Sylvia's Journal

In another meeting today, during which much was said but even more left unsaid I pondered about how much time and effort is spent on things that, in the end, don’t improve much on the statusquo. I think it is a fact of organizational life that is rarely acknowledged, or maybe only acknowledged by people who feel useless. But most of us keep up the illusion that, because it should, everything actually is purposeful and productive; that action A leads to B and if not, adding C will help.

I discovered that something we spent a lot of time and energy on a few weeks ago did, in the end, keep things just as they were and life continues as if none of that happened. Was I the only one who noticed? It is interesting to go over to do lists from months ago and see how many of the things that were critical and high priority and took much of our time then have simply become blips on a screen and disappeared.

Does this mean we are wasting much time, money, or energy (and someone will one day call us to task?) Or is this simply part of organizational slack time – the time in between times of tension and stretch? Normal, to be expected and good for our psychological health. There’s comfort in slack.

The short and slackful week is over now. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day which we will celebrate à deux with a stuffed chicken. Axel went shopping and decided that the 25 pound and pricey frozen Butterball Turkey was a bit much. But he got most anything else for making a Thanksgiving meal.

We explained the thanksgiving tradition to our Afghan colleagues. The Dari translation suggests it is a religious holiday and the thanks are for God. That was probably true at the time but that thanks were given to people who were then subsequently killed off or marginalized is more difficult to explain. At any rate, they like the long weekend this holiday creates, just four days after a week long holiday. Now that is real slack!