I was on a mission, this morning, to buy a new summer hat. I allowed myself an hour for this shopping task; an initially seemingly adequate time frame. Alas, it wasn't.
Let me mention that my hat-hunting abilities had nothing to do with the mission's failure.
Instead, my pace was severely restricted by ubiquitous dawdlers. Any step forward was hindered by the slower steps of individuals in front of me.
With every side-skip and heel-clip, I grew more and more frustrated. Contrary to the airy-fairy-literary stereotype, I'm a brisk walker.
Was I the only shopper with a predetermined time frame?As if a lone-dawdler isn't annoying enough, they're seldom without company. In groups they consume the width of walkways, and one is forced to squeeze, dance, slide, and push to get through this living wall.
I'm truly curious as to the root of dawdlers' languidness.
Understandably, some people walk slowly because they can't walk quickly. This is completely acceptable, and I'm often among this category myself (after an especially long run).
But as for the others ... Why? Perhaps they have nowhere to go; their trip is not from "A" to "B" but from "A" to "undefined".
Gosh, what a terrifying prospect.
Then again, Einstein (apparently) said, "Logic will get you from "A" to "B". Imagination will take you everywhere." Is "everywhere" a euphemistic synonym for "undefined"? Clearly, Einstein doesn't value "B".
Lewis Carroll - a man of much more relevant experience in both logic and linguistics - said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."
On a larger and more metaphorical scale, I'm sure the "undefined" destination is common to many students. Now that exams are finishing and next year is looming, many of us are looking at our watches, casually wondering when our future will arrive.
For the average 20-something, "B" seems like a forbidding, permanent, decisive sort of thing; an inconsequential location in the unforgiving "real world". It's less demanding to head for the "undefined".
It appears that flexibility is a valued characteristic in such indecisive times. Commitment, on the other hand, seems outdated and scary. Strangely, they are complementary qualities ... Our commitments can be flexible. We can "change our minds", and alter "B" accordingly.
I assured myself of this as I purchased a second hat during my outing.
This was regarded as a positive outcome: I had gone above and beyond my initial shopping goal. However, restraint is important. A purchase of three or more hats would have been excessive, and would have resulted in a dire financial situation for me.
I have a new shopping goal today: to find my sister a ball dress. Time frame? The entire day. Possibly tomorrow, too (if I'm allowing for dawdlers).
Perhaps dawdlers are misjudged; they may be simply committed to dawdling. In that case, good on them! At the end of the day, perhaps they remark to their spouse: "I had a really satisfying dawdle around town today."
This is much better than having no goal, or an "undefined" goal, and then hoping time will provide the definition. In rare cases, time can deliver - via divine inspiration or incredible luck - a perfect "B". In most cases, it's better to strive for something than to wait.
Through striving, you're less likely to become one of those lackadaisical individuals who spend their final days looking to the sky ... Wondering where they are, begging for more time, and asking how to get to "B".
- Katie Kenny studies English at the University of Otago.
