When Fast is Too Slow

I had entered McDonald's for breakfast. Our nephew from the west was visiting. A treat was in order. Breakfast was always what I did. But not today. I had a coupon for the Two Can Dine breakfast deal. The added treat would come later. Oatmeal raisin cookies would be purchased. I loved them so and made them often for others who did too. I was in happy land albeit knowing the ingredients might not be exactly organic or free of excessive sugar. Today I would buy more than the four oatmeal cookies that were on display. Our nephew was visiting. Treats were in order!

I asked the young employee for a dozen of the delicious cookies, cheaper by the dozen, I was told, the yummy dessert that would come in handy, later that day. I was excited at the prospect of having one as soon as they were baked and ready to go. Did they have any raisin oatmeal cookies left, I asked. Yes, she said, but remarked that it would take 2 minutes to bake them. Could I wait? I looked at her in shock, laughing at the suggestion that I might not be able to wait 2 minutes. (Nearly 40 years ago, while in hard labour, I waited minutes, at the intersection, for the light to change before I drove home. My doctor had failed me) "Are you kidding me?" Waiting 2 minutes was too long for us mere mortals for the baking of these yummy oatmeal raisin cookies, now no longer available, to my utter dismay. But many thought 2 minutes was too long to wait, she responded. What world was I inhabiting? Fast was now too slow?

Waiting, it seems, was now no longer possible in today's modern disposable world. I wondered where this thinking was taking us. Were we humans slowly becoming obsolete? Were the drones and robots we were inventing now going to replace us, in more ways than we could ever imagine? Fast tracking education could not be classified this way. It was a slow building upon previous years of learning.

Working with children is not a quick process. It is painstakingly slow but methodical and sometimes, a random process. What then? If 2 minutes is too slow, then what? If time and our devices rule us, what about the children? What about the children? They have their own internal random clock to follow. They need much more than 2 minutes, in most cases. It takes time, a lot of time, to assist these early humans called children, in developing physically, emotionally and intellectually.

In baking or cooking terms 2 minutes is nothing. Yet many felt otherwise where cookies were concerned. Imagine that! I guess the drive-thru phenomenon is setting the bar too high, making us feel that combo meals, sandwiches and beverages, through in this new 'window of opportunity', is now the new time line. Passing the window to pick up our food is quick, a no big deal event. But at home, it takes 2 minutes simply to remove food from the refrigerator to 'cook' or assemble into sandwiches or salads.

Re-heating leftovers takes more time than visiting the drive-thru. Do we stop cooking?Then there is the cleanup, another time consuming event. Reading a book takes hours. Even the eating of an apple takes more than 2 minutes. Chewing is an important and necessary step in our daily nutrition program. Slow and steady wins the race, the fairy tale goes. But our lives are not fairy tales. They are real and important and everything in them takes time, much time, though we can improve there for sure. But 2 minutes? A hiccup or sneeze takes more than that.

At the beginning of the last century everything took time, even days to do. Nothing was found in convenient pouches, mixes. Freezing was a burgeoning field of preservation. Refrigeration was too. At times it was a dangerous breakthrough. We are very fortunate to have such modern conveniences called appliances encompassing all the features of modern living. Everything we could possibly want or need is available at the flick of a switch or touch, it would seem.

Waiting 2 minutes for cookies to bake should not be an encumbrance. It is a reminder that someone  is doing us a favour by making them and baking them. We are simply paying for the 'privilege' of this luxury dessert in this rare event. The apples will have to wait. I simply do not have the time!