My adventuresome cousin Elizabeth once took a rafting vacation down the Nile River in Egypt. Riding down the river on a raft by day, the group camped beside the river at night.
The first thing the guide made us do, she recounted, was to take off our watches. He kept them for the duration of the trip. He wanted us to get a sense of what life used to be like - before we became so obsessed with time.
Was it hard to live without your watch? I asked.
Some people really struggled. We are so used to knowing what time it is. It's something we feel we need to know.
Not that long ago that our forefathers - unless they worked for the railway - wouldn't have needed a clock. My great-grandparents on their small farm would have awakened to the crowing rooster in the morning and gone to bed a little after dark .
Always having to watch the time was a stressor for me as a teacher. Every class had to start and end at an exact time. If you messed with the system, someone was sure to be annoyed. Students would grumble if the class started or ended late. Other teachers were upset if you dismissed your class early - their students got up to leave when they heard your class in the hall.
How much this rigidly-scheduled life went against my nature came out in my dreams, especially my recurrent stress-dream. (Every teacher has one - it recurs just before the beginning of a term!)
In my dream, I'm rushing down endless halls, looking for my class. I know that somewhere students are waiting for me, and I'm in trouble because I'm late! I wake up in a panic...
Release from the tyranny of the clock came only during summer vacation.
Which is why I find this stage of life so refreshing.
How do you spend your time now that you've stopped teaching? a former colleague recently asked me.
Well, I get up in the morning and ask myself what I want to do today. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don't. But there's always lots to do.
Sounds like summer vacation to me, he said.
Yes, that's just what it's like!
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