The Currency of Time

One of the things I've come to appreciate about the culture of Guatemala (along with several other parts of the world) is the absence of hurry in daily activities. In the United States, we give incredible value to efficiency. After all, time is money, right? We're always interested in how we might save more time, or how we're investing our time, or how we're spending our time. I once heard

somebody say that "Time is the currency of college students". Because time is so often discussed in terms of economic value, we seem to believe that the more we have, the better off we'll be.

As it turns out, the rest of the world doesn't always share this obsession with monetizing time. There is a term frequently used here known as "Guatemalan Time". Namely, that when you're told a time for a bus, meeting, or any other activity, you ought to know that it's only a ballpark estimate, at best, with a margin of error of 2-3 hours or more. You ought not be surprised when the 8:00am bus doesn't decide to show up until around 9:00am, without any notice. "You'll get there when you get there", is sort of the catch phrase around these parts. There's a sense that things will happen eventually, so there's no need to rush.

While such deviations from what I've known as normal may not seem significant, I have found there to be a great deal of value in living with a decreased level of hurry. Granted, I have a different type of class load, no job, and fewer social activities to keep me occupied. So, I certainly have more free time here than at home. But there's something about the attitude many Guatemalans seem to share about time that is both appalling and appealing. Appalling because I've always valued promptness, but appealing because it allows room for less stress.

Now, I don't think we ought to throw promptness out of the window, or that we ought never consider how we're using the time we have. It's healthy and beneficial to consistently evaluate what we're doing with our time. But I do believe that maybe there's something we're missing out on due to our culture's lust to board the train of non-stop hurry. To transcend our culture's addiction to rushed business may not be to show up to work 2 hours late, or vow to always make your friends wait on you. Maybe it's waking up an hour earlier, or eliminating certain items on your daily to-do list.
Whatever it might be, try changing something up in your schedule that allows you to taste a bit of the sweet thing known as "Guatemalan Time".          

(Side note: If you happen to believe the things the Bible says, there's a ton in there about chilling out. It's kind of great, I think.)