{"id":1049,"date":"2013-09-12T00:06:55","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T05:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2013-09-11T12:48:20","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T17:48:20","slug":"poem-efficiency-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/12\/poem-efficiency-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Efficiency Expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

The efficiency expert asked me<\/span>
\nHow many poems can I write<\/span>
\nPer hour<\/span>
\nWell, if I only<\/span>
\nHad but one hour<\/span>
\nI would guess a singular poem<\/span><\/p>\n

Western civilization seems obsessed with efficiency. \u00a0Of course, high efficiency is no guarantee of high effectiveness. \u00a0You can be very efficient at doing the wrong thing, and it will get you nowhere fast; or worse yet, actually farther away from what is desirable. \u00a0Western civilization’s desire to quantify every thing can become a distraction by leading us to ignore those things that are difficult to quantify. \u00a0I would posit that the most important things in life are difficult to quantify, and at some point trying to quantify them will likely do more harm than good. \u00a0What would be a unit of love, friendliness, hope, trust, courage, integrity, or humor? \u00a0Yep, sometimes dissecting something kills it!<\/p>\n

I must admit that I am a big fan of blessed inefficiency! \u00a0The best things in life — a good meal, making love, a good joke, or all three — are not good subjects for efficiency. \u00a0Time wasted that is enjoyed is not wasted. \u00a0I like the variously attributed quote, “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” \u00a0Joy is a singularly better marker for guiding success than any quantitative measure. \u00a0So, how many units of joy have you experienced today?<\/p>\n

In this poem, there is a stark contrast between quantity and quality. \u00a0The efficiency expert inquires with numbers in mind, typically assuming that more is better. \u00a0The poet takes one hour, but one hour, as all that they have; and such a profound limitation can provide clarity and depth of which an efficiency expert may not even dream. \u00a0The answer: a singular poem OR one poem per hour. Is not the answer clear?<\/p>\n

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die discover that I had not lived.” \u00a0— Henry David Thoreau, from Walden <\/em>(a read I would highly recommend as an antidote to frenetic modern civilization)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The efficiency expert asked me How many poems can I write Per hour Well, if I only Had but one hour I would guess a singular poem Western civilization seems obsessed with efficiency. \u00a0Of course, high efficiency is no guarantee … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[303,198,538,430,65,388,595,436,500,79,359,273,438,548,658,291,94,93,53,470,657,529,464,85],"class_list":["post-1049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-blessed","tag-courage","tag-dream","tag-efficiency","tag-god","tag-hope","tag-humor","tag-integrity","tag-joke","tag-joy","tag-life","tag-love","tag-mind","tag-modern","tag-poems","tag-poet","tag-poetry","tag-scientific-reductionism","tag-short-poems","tag-success","tag-thoreau","tag-time","tag-trust","tag-western-civilization"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Efficiency Expert | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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