To us, vacations* are times to experience the new and novel. To explore unfamiliar territories. And to kick back and relax (a hard thing for us to do).
Africa was our destination. A trip we’d been salivating over.
We witnessed fighting-to-the-death hippos (over a girl, no less).
Saw painted wolves, fur dripping with blood after a kill, and no cares in the world, except for their pups.
And watched baboons monkey around with all things human.
That same trip connected us with villagers and townies in the big and little places in South Africa, in Botswana, and in Zimbabwe. Out our train windows we negotiated with Africans selling hand-crafted items. After Victoria Falls they descended en masse. And in a little Zimbabwe community, all 20 citizens greeted our bus – and proudly showed us their cell phone, their homes … and their beer-making hut.
At every stop, at every pause, we heard the word “ish.” To them, it meant sort of, or around the time. There could be delays – unavoidable due to nature. There might be some variance in getting together, depending on other people. The “ish,” to them, was truth. They would absolutely stick to the agreement, to the meeting. But “ish” might intervene to make them miss the exact time.
That’s alien to our work worlds. At many companies, “ish” might be anathema … even a few minutes off might spell an issue, even some sort of warning. On the dot, after all, means punctuality.
Yet: Is it time to re-think our clocks, and savor the minutes we spend waiting – and, perhaps, dreaming?
*That’s the reason for our month-long blogging silence. We’re back!
