Too Busy to Be Busy

This piece was published in my school's newspaper as a "teacher column" :-)

Last week, when a beautiful Lancer editor (and former student) approached me and asked if I would like to write a “faculty column” for the newspaper, my first thought was, “I would love to do that!”  My second thought was, “Oh dear Lord, I have zero time for such shenanigans.”  So, of course, I responded, “I’d be happy to.”  After a brief rundown of the specifications and then granted the freedom to write about whatever I want, I smiled and walked away with an old southern self-reproach, “What the heck and the hay are you thinking?”

            Although I frequently recalled my oral agreement over the ensuing days (they aren’t binding, are they?), I put off any actual work on this assignment until—the day it was due.   Every time the task flashed before my mind’s eye, I was obligated elsewhere:

·         tweaking a new research project in my senior class,

·         convincing my sophomores that Nathaniel Hawthorne was not engrossed in some sadistic social experiment when he published The Scarlet Letter,

·         grading essays that were submitted mid-September,

·         writing letters of recommendation for a November 1^st application deadline,

·         finalizing my family’s Halloween costumes,

·         helping my daughter track down sources for her third grade project on Central Plains Native Americans,

·         indulging my five-year old son’s constant desire to have a family Nerf war,

·         apologizing to my dog for another day with no walk,

·         apologizing to Mr. Battle for another day with no run,

·         fielding 25,000 emails

·         cooking, cleaning, laundry, eating, sleeping, driving, voting, and other essential tasks

            I have one burning consolation in this.  I know I am not alone.  The details of “swamped” may vary, but ask anyone you know, “How are you?” and if he or she is willing to honestly go there with you, the response will sound something like, “Good. Really busy.”

In a space and time where what we “have” to do cannibalizes the time we would surely devote to what we “want” to do, there can be only this solution:  you must want to do what you have to do, and you have to do what you want to do.  There is no wiser sage in this than Ferris Bueller who quipped during his famous Day Off from high school (a movie you should definitely take time to watch!), “Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.”

We have an amazing community at Saint Francis—there’s always something fun going on.  And we all have very full lives outside of Saint Francis—family, sports, art, hobbies, spiritual practices, etc..  If, today or tomorrow or any day hereafter, you feel you are stretched too far, spread too thin, headless chickening, or the like, please pause, breathe, and ask yourself, “If the world ended tomorrow, would I consider this a waste of my time?”  If the answer is “yes,” drop that junk like a sack of potatoes.  If the answer is “no,” lean in and have a blast with it.

As I wrap up my miraculously on-time column, I can say with some measure of confidence that I am a better person for taking a few minutes to write, to meet an obligation (would that they were all so pleasurable) and to share myself with my Saint Francis family.