Fast: March 10, 1997 issue of New Thinking

March 10, 1997 New Thinking:
Fast

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March 10, 1997

Fast

By Gerry McGovern

About a month ago, I was driving home from Wexford. The night was thick and dark; no stars or moon. It was late and my headlights shone alone. In big white letters beneath my approaching wheels I saw the word ‘SLOW.’

I slowed. Not as much as SLOW would have me slow, but enough to wrap around the bend. ‘ VERY SLOW’ And another more treacherous bend. Down a gear. And then another. And then the road up ahead was straight and I accelerated.

It struck me as my speed increased that they never need big white letters on a straight road which spell the word ‘FAST’.

Driving down to Longford about a week ago I noticed a white cross planted by the roadside with the letters ‘RIP.’ I have traveled this way often and this was the first time I had seen this cross. I slowed.

My mind filled with images from a crash scene I had come across a couple of years previously on this same road. I saw myself leaning in a back window comforting a hysterical child. His parents were bloodied, confused and silent in the front.

I was holding him by the shoulders, for when I first leaned in he had been jumping about with pain. “My leg! My Leg! My leg!” he kept screaming, sobbing. “I know. I know. I know,” I kept whispering. “Don’t move. It’ll only be worse if you move. You’re a brave boy. Don’t move.”

He calmed down suddenly, then turned his head and stared at me. “Why did it have to happen to me?” he asked, in an angry, confused, despairing voice.

Then I saw a second cross. And then a third. Fourth, fifth, sixth. And with each new cross that memory receded and my fear of speed decreased. For I knew that these crosses did not mean that a recent deadly crash had happened, but were merely a warning.

We live by movement. Everything moves; the heart beats and the earth rotates. We are drawn to speed. It’s a natural thing. However, we need limits because without limits, death limits.

The digital age is fast. Unbelievably fast. Everyone I know is busy. Software is forever reinventing itself, forever coming up with a new version. Hardware is powering ahead, forever increasing its capacity. But it feels like software is forever gobbling up hardware’s dinner, as each new version eats up more space and more capacity.

Art for art’s sake. Invention for invention’s sake. Progress for progress’ sake. We want more, more speed. Speed can be an addiction and I believe that many involved in the digital age are addicted to speed. I am.

There are bends up ahead; there must be. Sometimes I wish there was someone out there painting the word ‘SLOW;’ giving us some warning. But no, it’s a new road we’re on. We are among the first and it will be our crashes which in time will define the limits.

It’s a thrill. All the same, I wish you luck up ahead.

By Gerry McGovern

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It's a new road we’re on. We are among the first and it will be our crashes which in time will define the limits.