Slow Movement by TED

My first thought when I started watching this video was, "What? we need to move faster!" The poor aren't being helped fast enough, we aren't saving enough lives therefore we need to speed up our life saving process... We need to give blood more often... The first few minutes of the clip all these questions and more were running through my head. But when I "slowed down" and listened I realized, he wasn't talking about being lazy or unproductive. He was saying take time to do things efficiently. Spend more time with people who mean the most to you. 

This clip took me back to the years when I used to live in Ethiopia. Man how simple life seemed. People in Ethiopia do not race against time. I remember the genuiness of people, the care we had for each other. One might say that we don't have to race time because Ethiopia is not a developed world and therefore there aren't any jobs available. That is true for the most part, but it's also because of the rich culture. I was taught at a young age that people are important. Visiting the sick, attending funerals and weddings were very important. I couldn't understand when I was younger why my mother attended so many funerals. Sometimes she would go to funerals even when she did not know the person. My little brain couldn't comprehend how she can cry for a person she did not know. Now I realized, she didn't have to know the person per se. Maybe she was crying for the children she left behind, for the wife he left behind, or the friends and neighbors they left behind. I will never knew the true reasons why my mother felt the need to make time to cry with those grieving, laugh with others, dance yet with others... Time never seem to run out for her. Whatever task was not completed the previous day was worked on the next. 

Coming from a mother like her, a lot of her ways rubbed off on me... 

When I first came to America, I hated the country. I wanted to go back home. The reason was because life out here was too fast. I was amazed to see that people can ride on buses and planes for ours and not say a word to each other. The lack of friendliness and hospitality in American people made me want to run back home despite the poverty level and lack of education awaiting me there. People always seemed in a rush out here. In such a huge rush that they couldn't properly greet each other...

Now 10 years later, I can't believe how much I have changed. I'm amazed to say that  I would push the "button" to go faster if i could. 

As an athlete (runner) I was trained to go faster and faster and faster. Because of this everything in my life turned into a race. Since everything was evolved around running, I couldn't make time for my loved ones. My main goal was to train hard and to get faster! Once I quit the team my pace slowed down a great deal. I still find myself racing against the clock but I at least have more time to sped with family and friends. 

What I took from this video clip is that fast it not always good. To produce something with great quality, weather it be a product, friendships, and/or romantic relationships we need to spend time working on it.