Kathleen Ratcliffe

Anymore, it seems the world is on a fast track, a wide and hectically flowing track. Everyone is rushing toward something, but many times we have no idea what that something is. We want to get where we’re going now not later. Time is at a premium, but we want it in increasingly smaller increments: seconds not minutes. We want our communications, our information, and our very lives to happen ASAP.

No longer can we wait to talk face to face with friends and loved ones. We grab some electronic device and whip off a message, then decry the time it takes for them to respond. And those devices have to be the best and the fastest available (even if it means waiting in line for HOURS to get them). It's the same with our food. Microwave ovens, for example, once considered the epitome of speed and efficiency, have become objects of ire as we pound on them, berating them for taking seconds to warm our food.

We want instant gratification, ignoring the build-up and the journey. "Anticipation" has become a bad word.

Where are the quiet times? The times when we looked forward to being with family and friends; face to face, eye to eye, actually enjoying the time we spend together? The times when we put our feet up and lost ourselves in a great book? The times when we relaxed and let ourselves drift away into adventure, romance, action, mystery?

Those times can be yours again. All you have to do is jump out of the fast lane, get off the broad and rushing highway, open a book, and simply TAKE THE PATH to Elsewhere.