Here’s a Quick Read

Got a sec? Make this quick. Have U noticed everyone’s rushed these days? Hurry, hurry, hurry. Faster = better. That’s everyone’s credo. Not surgeons or airplane builders, we hope. But it’s happening everywhere else--how we talk, ship, read, travel, even eat. Everything’s gotta be faster.

Why’s this? No time 4 answers. E-mail us.

Turn on TV. Use the remote. (Saves time.) Hit Favorites. Or Recall. Punch one button, sted of 2. TV weather guy talks temps and precip. (Saves pronouncing and listening to several syllables for each word.) Get picture-in-picture; watch two channels at once. (Saves switching.)

Speed dials. ATMs. Electronic airline tickets. People even talk acronyms: Drove an SUV to HUD in L.A., doesn’t meet CAFE standards but OK with OSHA.

BTW, e-mail’s an abbreviation for electronic mail. Now, even e-mail’s 2 slow; takes seconds. Invent instant messaging--IM for short. Talking nanoseconds there. Could be garbage in, garbage out, but very fast garbage. (What happened to thinking first?)

Computer trainers apologize: “This’ll take a minute to boot up.” Hey, it took 9 days to get Lincoln’s inaugural address to California. And the Civil War still ended.

FedEx Overnight once seemed swift. Then Priority Overnight. Now, First Overnight, which is earlier than early. Thirty-minute film developing. Insty-Prints. One-hour dry cleaning (how clean can that be?). Thirty-minute delivery guarantees on pizzas, should starvation loom suddenly. Power bars save sitting down to eat.

Credit cards at gas pumps save those time-consuming 30-foot hikes to sign inside. The president’s energy plan is denounced--two days before it’s published. Even sports hurry; now, last weekend’s contests may be Instant Classics on ESPN broadcasts that look back.

BTW, since we’re all obviously saving tons of time through chronic rushing--look, even this editorial is shorter than the others on this page--where does all the saved time go? And why do we feel so pressured?