Saying “I didn’t have time” is a lame excuse. Not only is our daily ration the exact same as everyone else, it is the exact same every day. Have you ever had less? Is there a secret “time robber” that somehow takes away your time. You just ate breakfast and – kablammo – midnight.
What you’re really saying is that you had too many things to do with a higher priority. Right or wrong, well-spent or not, you had exactly 24 hours in the day. Maybe it’s true that you have an inhuman amount of priorities and people counting on you, but it isn’t about time. That is a constant. It's like we are so reticent to take responsibility for our prioritizing that we blame the earth's rotation instead. "The day just went too quickly..." Yeah, that's it. It's the solar system's fault.
The other day I asked Amanda why she had left a hot cocoa mug in her bathroom overnight. She said, “I didn’t have time to put it in the sink.” Wow. That is like a 4-second job. From final sip to Dad discovery she had about 15 hours, the exact same as everyone else. Even allowing for time at school, seminary, or sleep she still had about 45 minutes. She could have taken care of the mug like 700 times in that span.
She says, “I was too busy!” OK, fine, but what she’s really saying is that every second (or 4-second interval) she had something to do that she assigned a higher priority, justified or not.
“Amanda, why is this mug in your bathroom?”
“I placed a higher priority on sleeping, personal grooming, school, and checking my E-mail and Facebook than on domestic cleanliness or parental ease.”
I guess that would sound weird. The truth can sound bad. It does sound more responsible than blaming the clock.
2 comments:
The opportunity cost of removing the Mug from the bathroom, trudging mindlessly to the kitchen sink, placing the mug in said sink, and then returning to her room were too high for her to do the task.
I like your thought process here, but sometimes I really do feel like there is a time bandit. Great post.
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