Taking Time for People
Several days ago I was asleep in bed after returning home from a two hour trip in the middle of the night to an airport to accompany my wife for her flight. Shades were drawn blocking out any light. Nonetheless I faintly heard my bedroom door open and the pitter patter of tiny feet on the floor just before feeling a little hand patting my face, then the sweet voice of my four year old grandson, “nonno, nonno, nonno”. Out in the hallway his mother quickly realized what was happening and called him out of the room thus ”rescuing me”.
The simple little event of my grandchild’s attempt to be with me triggered some reflection. What did he want? Although sometimes he has a little plan for what we can do together involving playing with toys, a game, or putting a puzzle together, he mostly just wants to be together.
Nowadays the hindrances to making the effort of being together with friends, family members, or perhaps someone going through a tough time in order to just to be together, are many. In this era of technological advances, quick pace, busyness and various stresses of our times it often seems to get squeezed out under the pretense of more important things to do. Perhaps there is no better way to communicate how much we value people than the time we choose to spend with them.
My four year old grandson’s simple gesture that morning was a reminder to me to not lose sight of the value of giving priority to spending time with people, without an agenda.
Alex, Feb 2020
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
6 Comments
Submit a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Recent Posts
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
The Korean writer Hwang Bo-Reum has previously written several essay collections. This is her first novel. The book’s protagonist Yeongju did everything she was supposed to do: Go to university, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. Burned out, she abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career and starts to follow her dream. She opens a bookshop.
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
The Music of Bees, debut novel by Eileen Garvin, is a thoughtful, life-affirming story that invites the reader to consider the healing power of community. It is present day rural Oregon; a region dotted with fruit farms as well as other agricultural endeavors.
Films with a Common Theme: Difficulty in Close Relationships
The past week I happened to see three 2025 films that had in common the theme of pains and deficits in close relationships…
I think most of us sense the rightness of your message. What I deeply appreciate is that I know from personal experience that you are a person who faithfully acts on this feeling. We need more living models like you to remind us that we can do better than simply having good intentions. Spending time with people is costly in terms of our energy and attention.
Thanks for sharing this Alex. I feel very aware of life being reduced to “productivity”. I’m motivated by this challenge to spend time with people without such values attached.
The next-to-last sentence will stay with me as I roll through this week. Thanks, Al.
Simple but real.I think everybody will do the mistake,like finding a game to play or finding a movie to watch while being together. Actully the real meanful thing is being together.There is a saying in chinese: Trees want to be steady,but wind don’t stop;Kid want to repay the kindness of nurturing from prarents,but they won’t wait to be old. I hope i can go back as soon,also not compromise my dream。
QPF, I love that Chinese saying! How do you write that in Chinese?
Being together.
Like many things that are basic to life, we took that for granted. Now we are missing it.
We as humans are hard-wired for togetherness…may we not forget this lesson.