Sunday, January 06, 2008

Go slow

I was daydreaming when the cow came carrying a rolled-up picture in her ear.
-Hi 99!
-Hi Negrita... uhmm... what´s that thing in your ear?
-Well, I don´t have any pockets, you know, I´m always naked. I need a favor from you. Said the cow
-Go ahead. Shoot.
-I want you to make this cake for some friends of mine that are leaving- she explained while unrolling the picture-I´m not much of a cook but I can try. What´s the occasion?
-I want to cheer them up because they´re closing the nearby tambo.
-Why are they doing so?
-Same old, same old. Dairy farms are not profitable any more so the owners are going for crops, said Negrita followed by an open nostrils sigh
-Do you think it´s for biodiesel?
-Who knows... I would tell them, if they ever listened to a cow, a good energy saving advice: to smile! It takes 65 muscles to tighten up your face and only 15 to smile. Humans can do it better than us and still prefer to waste calories in fuel. But as the Native Indian proverb says: it is not possible to wake up a person that pretends to be asleep.
-... I was just daydreaming... not sleeping..., I tried
-I didn´t mean you. You know how to deal with the Kairos.
-Do I? What do you mean Negrita?
-I mean you don´t go with Chronos you flow in the Kairos.
-Yeah, kairos moments alter destiny. Although some say that I´m just lazy. You mention it because I like to live slow?
-No, not because of that. I mean you Carpe Diem. I ´ve seen you, 99.

-Negrita, let me explain it to you. People are not satisfied to just engage in actions or behaviors but also need to believe that what they do is good. I believe enjoying is good. I also believe that the perfect moment is always coming at the precise corner, the right crossroad, when the stars line up. Before that moment it´s just counting endless minutes until the next year.
Remember the rabbit of Alice in Wonderland, so obsessed with the watch? I´ve been seeking kairos since I began to find time and space metaphors. Like that tale about the hunter and the lion...
-Sure 99, wasn´t it Italo Calvino?. That´s what I meant. Seize kairos!

-It´s healthy too. So that´s how cows feel about time?
-Cattlehood is a bit different in anatomical, physiological, and evolutionary terms but we seek the same. Mainly, the satisfaction of preferences. That´s why I want you to make me the cake.

-Everyday I know more about your ethics, Negrita. You focus on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, not the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions, but don´t you think that flour and sugar might be a little indigestible for your friends?
-Oh no, no, no! Please make sure that you fill it with sorghum sprouts! Lots of them! and maybe some linen seeds if it´s not too much to ask. I want them to have fun, she urged me very excited
-Ok, I´ll try. See you later.
-Cook it slowly, they like it tender. Thanks 99 and Happy New Year.



6 comments:

GMG said...

So it seems that SLOW is moving fast... Wait and see!
Bom fim de semana!

99 said...

Hi GMG!
SLOW has been so disrespected in favor of the "more-better-faster" industrial culture that we are used to think time in a lineal unidimensional way. Except that most of the big events in our lives come in magic sudden moments.

I was unusually young when I began to learn letters but I didn´t know their meanings or what they were for. One day as I was passing by a sign in the street I recognized some: C--O--C--A--C--O--L--A. Suddenly the stars lined up and I connected: COCA COLA!

I will never forget the kairos moment in which I read my first meaningful word.
My memories are a collection of these cocacola moments and I have no register of all the minutes, days, hours, years in between. Only those luminous events.
And as I grew old I seek them.
I guess that everybody does.

So, does the watch help?

Anonymous said...

I love the cow/cake/photo. Not sure if that is it or not - did you make it -- bake it -- buy it? Really nice. Also liked the slow food depicted by the snail.

And thanks for stopping at my birds blog and for the comment there about the doves.

I have some more birds in collections on flickr.com/photos/abrahamlincoln/

GMG said...

Probably the watch doesn't help for many important things, but it's not easy to survive without it. And I see that your blogging and commenting is entering the SLOW move also... ;)
Have a great day, as there is only one day left for TGIF!

99 said...

Hi Abe!
sorry to answer so late... I guess I´m taking too seriously the SLOW part...

Anyway, the cake is a real one, that of course I am absolutely unable to cook. I forgot to include the link to where I found it but now it´s corrected. (By clicking on the photo you´ll find the full explanation from the real cooks - not quite McDonald´s type)

I also loved the snail.

Enjoy your day!

99 said...

Hi GMG!
Yeah, thank God it IS Friday.
My watch broke the same day I wrote the post and since then it´s been at the repair shop.
Do you know what happened? I arrived exactly on time to every important meeting and appointment! I mean anyway.

God works in mysterious ways... He makes Fridays to appear right when he need them and people to be able to choose.
You can´t beat that!

Bom fim de semana para você também.