Genuinely Busy, or just a Busy-body?

I've been thinking. About times when I get a lot done. When I am swamped and quite occupied, but still manage to do what is important.
Besides purposing to do this and that, I actually create time to duly attend to what I consider of great important, since it is high on my priorities list.

Funny enough, I never go around telling people how busy I have been or am, it simply ain't cool and such mindless assertions add no value no matter the circumstances.
Busy or not, whatever was to be done remains undone.

The reason I write the above is a general trend I have noticed that irks me a great deal - people unashamedly hiding behind the word "busy" and thoughtlessly using it as an excuse for breaking promises and failing to do the needful. Guys will easily say they've been too busy to reply to an Email, return a call or respond to texts and IM. In fact, people will claim to have been too busy to do what they actually get paid to do.

In the past month, I had to severally remind some public relations official in very respectable companies to reply to long-overdue Emails. The common reply was that they've been too busy to find time to write Emails, all of which was essentially part of their job description. All along, these same guys were tweeting and sharing jokes on their personal Facebook accounts, on their respective companies' time.

My travails aside, have you been finding it too easy to claim you've been too busy that you never courteously excused yourself from an engagement, that you were too busy that you couldn't respectively suggest a postponement or suggest that some person else handle an urgent matter?

Take time and think about why you can't find the time to do the important stuff.
Consequently, stop telling others just how busy you've been, and simply do the needful.

Are We merely there WITH, or FOR One Another?

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."

- Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

Six Degrees

The Six Degrees of Separation or "Human Web" concept has been explored in various literally works and the creative arts for many years all over the world.

Essentially, it asserts that all human beings are largely interconnected.

Since the 1990 play and the 1993 film of the same name, the Six Degrees of Separation concept has been prominently deployed in the immensely popular TV Show LOST. It has also inspired films such as Crash and Babel.

Babel

This is a movie that stars an ensemble cast. It focuses on four interrelated sets of situations and characters - in Morocco, Japan, United States and Mexico.

Basically, a high-powered rifle originally owned by a Japanese hunter is used by two boys in Morocco to critically injure an American tourist [Susan].

At home in the USA, the Mexican nanny in charge of Richard and Susan's twin children is involved in border trespass after attending her son's wedding in Tijuana, Mexico.

Noteworthy themes

Throughout the movie, misunderstandings abound:

> The immediate classification of the American tourist's shooting as a terrorist act, Amelia's [Mexican nanny]treatment by the border police and the treatment of local Arabs by the American tourists. All this has obvious racial undertones.

> Suspicion and misplaced priorities - the tourists in the bus are quick to leave to avoid the desert heat as well as forestall "further attacks" by the locals.

> Political issues between governments significantly hinder quick help for Susan.

Despite the above, and what I found most inspiring, is the willingness of strangers [the local veterinarian and the bus tour guide] to be of help. In fact, the tour guide declined financial compensation from Richard [Susan's husband] as Susan was being carried away in a helicopter.

Somebody for Someone

In their song Somebody for Someone, The Corrs capture the very essence of being there for other people:

"Look at me, see me' 'look at me, save me'

'Free me, find me 'cos if there's

Somebody for someone, yeah look at me"

Somebody for someone

Bridges

A while back, I blogged on the Walkabout about the need to communicate, create human bridges and be united in purpose.

The human bridge is nurtured by introduction, familiarity and co-operation. With a common purpose, everything becomes possible.

We therefore need to be there for one another, even without the presence of a crisis. We have to go beyond merely being there with one another.