I blame it all on Minute Rice.

I realized that as a guy in a pickup truck broke the sound barrier passing me on the right shoulder while I dawdled along at 63 mph in a 55 zone.

Not to point fingers, but what was Ataullah Ozai-Durrani thinking when he brought a rice cooker to the offices of General Foods, served up the very first batch of minute rice, and forever distorted time?

Now, 4G isn”t fast enough. We need the newest 5G ultra high-fast technology, in spite of the fact that almost NOTHING is equipped to handle it yet. But, just wait a few nano-seconds, and every company under the sun will be enticing us to upgrade our phones because, why settle for s-l-o-w service.

Slow. Remember dial-up? Adds perspective, doesn’t it?

Do microwave dinners take too long? Is your car self-starting to avoid waiting for a cold ride to warm up? Does Alexa control your gadgets, saving you the time to flick switches yourself? You may have fallen victim to the Minute Rice Race!

Why, Minute Rice has even influenced language. “Please wait a minute,” became  “Please wait a moment,” and now “Hang on a sec.”  Whoever thought we’d need to abbreviate the word “second?”

The faster things move, the more time-starved we are. Find yourself cramming more into every day? That makes as much sense as getting ready to pack for a trip, looking at the enormous pile of clothing you plan to take and thinking, “Oh, I better get a smaller suitcase.” Then doubling the amount you take!

Yup, it all started with Minute Rice.

When I think about all those drivers that pass on a double-solid line or the shoulder because I’m driving too slowly at 8 miles over the speed limit?  I take subtle pleasure in thinking how it must drive them bonkers each spring when they lose a whole hour of time, and they can’t do a darn thing about it!

As we approach that day when we have to reset the clocks, I just have to point out how ironic it is that with Daylight Saving Time, we lose an hour.

Oh well, I guess we get it back every fourth Leap Year.

Originally published in the April 18 issue of Beyond the Nest’s newsletter.