TIME (or You have no time to read a long headline)

*Post for The Blog Tour Award

When you travel the world, leave nothing but the footprints. Some take these famous words to heart and adapt them to blogging. Leave nothing but Like. Do not waste your time reading, pondering and commenting (if that’s not your own post, of course). Just share your Likes, and it will come back to you many times…

Now, some bloggers hit the Like button, not even reading the headline. Some will agree with me, others will rebel, saying “Hey! I do read headlines!”  A lot of Likes on my Russian-language posts from absolutely English-speaking people will serve as a vivid example. I used to write (now I don’t, I got tired quickly) to those people that I’m glad they know Russian. They said that they used Translator. For example, if they translated this post, they would think that I am a cynophile, because the word Likes in Russian (лайки) stands for Huskies in English. When I was stunned by such attention to my writing talent, I hinted that I write both in English and in Russian, our dialogue faded away.

When I look at these people’s behavior, I get the impression that time for them is a rubber woman. They can stretch it as they like, and it will look at them obediently and trustingly with an open mouth. They can give 150 likes for 5 minutes, raising their Stats and saving time for writing their own post. But do they really think that giving those “Likes”, they make someone happy?

We all know Omar Khayyam quote “Who understood the life, He does not hurry more …” But try to say these words to someone who is rushing through the morning chores to drop a kid off at kindergarten and then elbowing a way through the morning traffic to get to work. At best, you will get a look of disapproval, and at worst, you will be thought to be insane for attempting to talk to a stranger.

I have to confess. I love hustle and bustle. I love to be in a hurry. I love deadlines (27 April 2015 is the first deadline in my lifetime, and I loved it!) In the morning, I look like Marvel Quicksilver, when I am running around the apartment so that it is quite hard to spot my actions with the naked eye. That makes me activate all my hidden superpowers. I like the feeling that I am running out of time, it fills me with a sense of the importance of my existence on the planet. I can read the news, brush my teeth, cook porridge, and dance belly dance at the same time (the latter is in case of emergency). But all of these activities will be half-activities. Yes, we can divide our time as we like, but let’s not apply this to people. Half-attention, half-communication, half-response, and half-support can hurt more than a lack of attention, communication, response, and support at all.

In 2011 (or 2012… time does not matter), I saw a film “In Time”, directed, and produced by Andrew Niccol. It sank deep into my innocent, yet untouched by blogging, mind. The basic idea of the film is that time is the currency, and we pay for all the things by the most valuable thing we have (time), nearing the end of it and our lives. You hardly will come up with the idea that while reading your Reader on WordPress, you got one more hour closer to death. But it seems that someone actually thinks so. And since life is the most precious thing we have, to hit Like button without reading is a way to longevity and prosperity (yes, I shuddered at the absurdity of these words, too).

Well, I will stop my stream of consciousness, because it’s too late. Because there is time. Time … Too little too late.

I want you to cast your minds back to 2006, and swaying to the rhythm of the song “Too Little Too Late” by Jojo, to regret over your time, wasted on reading my post.