fast and (furious?)

All through life we see that people who are slow in any given activity get punished. Of course, it's subjective. If you write slowly, you never finish your exams in time and suffer from comparatively less marks, affecting your acads. If you talk slowly, people get bored easily. If you walk slowly, you always get left behind in a crowd. If you grasp slowly, someone else eats the cake and benefits. 


No. I am not listing the benefits of being fast. I am not even criticizing the punishment for being slow. (After all we live in a world of relativity, and fast and slow are just that. Relative terms. The important part is being comfortable in your skin. Which can be left for some other blog post). 
I write this, because I feel horrid.


Since childhood, I have been a speed-lover. I wrote fast (which made me finish off exams well within time out, often with room for extra writing). I read fast (I read an entire library in a single summer.). I walk, talk, learn, grasp fast too. Of course haste (cos of the speed) has proven a folly too. But none of the loss suffered has been more than a trickle. Because, I always got chances. Thankfully. And I am still comfortable with speed. Also, I think I am considerably patient too.


The other day, while in the market, I lost Aai. Twice. She is a slow walker (when you compare her to me!!). But god only knows why I lost her. It wasn't dramatic. The losing and finding. The thought that why I could not slow myself down to match her speed bothered me. A lot. I don't hate myself for walking fast. I don't like the fact that I could not be thoughtful enough.


May be thoughtfulness should be made compulsory. Especially when you are constantly rewarded for being faster and faster.


~nightflier