A Hare’s Perspective on Life: How Quickly it Moves March 31, 2012

Does anyone remember the story about the tortoise and the hare?  If you don’t, here’s a little moment of childhood.

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness. Then  one day, the irate tortoise answered back: “Who do you think you are? There’s  no denying you’re swift, but even you can be beaten!” The hare squealed with  laughter.“Beaten in a race? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet there’s nobody in the world that can win against me, I’m so speedy. Now, why don’t you try?”Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A course was planned, and the next day at dawn they stood at the starting line. The hare yawned sleepily as the meek tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare saw how painfully slow his rival was, he decided, half asleep on his feet, to have a quick nap. “Take your time!” he said. “I’ll have forty winks and catch up with you in a minute.”

The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for the tortoise. But the creature was only a short distance away, having barely covered a third of the course. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in a nearby field. But the heavy meal and the hot sun made his eyelids droop. With a careless glance at the tortoise, now halfway along the course, he decided to have another snooze before flashing past the winning post. And smiling at the thought of the look on the tortoise’s face when it saw the hare speed by, he fell fast asleep and was soon snoring happily. The sun started to sink, below the horizon, and the tortoise, who had been plodding towards the winning post since morning, was scarcely a yard from the finish. At that very point, the hare woke with a jolt. He could see the tortoise a speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a great rate, his tongue lolling, and gasping for breath. Just a little more and he’d be first at the finish. But the hare’s last leap was just too late, for the tortoise had beaten him to the winning post. Poor hare! Tired and in disgrace, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently smiling at him.

“Slowly does it every time!” he said. (illustrated by Arthur Rackam)

You may be wondering why I decided to use the tortoise and the hare analogy.  My son, his wife and I met for breakfast this morning.  We only live about ten minutes apart.  I love my son a lot and it is such a blessing every time I see him.  His wife is an angel and she is a beautiful person.

After we had our meal and were walking out to the vehicles, my son had brought up that the last time we were together was December, yes Christmas!  Since April is right around the corner (actually tomorrow), that is a four month time lapse.  When that came from his lips, my mouth dropped and I just said: “no way!”  Sadly, it was true.

We stood in the parking lot and talked for a while (a life conversation summed up in the matter of minutes).  It was awesome to find out what is going on in their life, but I was still kind of getting over the shock of how much time had passed and the things I missed in his life.

It’s as if my son and his wife are celebrities, and we get together at the summer house.  All kidding aside, they both have great careers and are doing well for being a young couple.  I have to say that I am a very proud mom!

So, what is the point?  It is just this, we all have busy schedules and that may seem at times to take the gold star in your life.  But the most important and priceless things in life are family and spending time with them, sharing the good and the bad, and hearing about what is going on in their world.

Moving at a fast pace to win the race of life award is not necessarily the better option.  There are times when it is better to stop, take a breath and drink in all of your treasures, because families are the gem of life.

If you move too fast, you may miss out on the slow precious moments in between.