“Well kan Senec and many a philosophre / Biwaillen tyme more than gold in cofre, / ‘For loss of catel may revovered be, / But loss of tyme shendeth us,’ quod he.”
-Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (Man of Law’s Tale,lines 25-28)
With every passing hour, it seems, some task, great or small, which we had previously to accomplish by some independent or elaborate means is streamlined, minimized, and absorbed into some ostensibly beneficial and ecumenical instrument (the computer, the smartphone, even the automobile).
Hence, an imperfect illustration: the Swiss Army knife. Such an object combines many of the varied tools of the woodsman, workman, or tinkerer –– the functionality of scissors, knife, pliers, tweezers, etc. available in the form of a single implement. It seeks to save time by saving space and adding convenience.
Now, the Swiss Army knife is certainly a genius invention, and I own multiple of these iconic pieces of fine engineering and workmanship. However, this tool, like any, has its place. Though the Swiss Army knife contains a Phillips head screwdriver, you will not likely find one in the hands of your local mechanic; though it contains a can opener, you likely do not use one in your own kitchen when opening a can of tomato paste. For these are simply not the places for such a time-saving device: in these circumstances, it may negatively affect quality and save no time at all.
In the quest to do more in less time we must keep an eye to quality, and to the thing itself. We must maintain what Russell Kirk called an “affection for the proliferating variety an mystery of human existence… a sense that life is worth living,” and to reject what John Crowe Ransom pointed to as the imperative of Industrialism, that because a thing can be done, it mustbe done.
That is to say, a tablet is great for a road trip, but hardbacks are better suited for living rooms; a Swiss Army knife is handy when you have a hangnail, but a bearded man in plaid flannel prefers a fine piece of Damascus steel when skinning a black bear: it both eases his labor and lends dignity to his task (above all, perhaps, it is more respectful to the bear).
As the stewards of our hours, we must not scatter them so carelessly to the sterile fields of convenience. It is our obligation not to save time, per se, but to redeem it.
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