"We Got to Make the Morning Last"

Sure you have heard Simon and Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song: "Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last." Or, at least, weak-in-the-bones crusty old-timers such as we have. It used to be a favourite during college days. We hum it these days, at times, not knowing whether the message has gone down.

That's why this article in Harvard Business Review's blog by Tony Schwartz caught our attention.Here's the drift. We (old timers) lived in a slow paced age when the only television was in a house 100 metres away. The owner kindly let us watch Chhayageet (a compilation of songs) and Sunday movie on it, though his house would get crowded and uncomfortable. There were no MTV or reality shows. Then we would discuss the songs, the technology that brought images to a screen, the way the hero and heroine dressed and the running around trees. Then we would go home and study for exams and, maybe, read a novel on the sly (keeping it between a notbook so nobody knew). We used to read books! The next day we would go to college and, maybe, play football or cricket and the routine would continue. Yes, we used to actually play football and cricket, not just watch it on the telly.

Nowadays, we struggle with so many social thingies and watch television that it's scary the way the young is losing the opportunity to introspect, analyse, find depth, understand nuances. As the author says:

"Speed is the enemy of depth, nuance, subtlety, attention to detail, reflection, learning, and rich relationships — the enemy of much, in short, that makes life worth living."

And here's how he ends the article:

Above all, slowly build more strolling, dawdling, moseying, meandering, musing, lingering, relishing, and savoring into your life.

Simon and Garfunkel were right. We got to make the morning last. 

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.