Taking Time to Slow Down

Wendy Bounds, the author of Little Chapel on the River has a way with words. Her story of Guinan’s is artfully crafted so that readers can identify with her experience even if they do not have a Guinan’s of their own in their hometown. Bounds’ book is also a subtle critique on American consumerism and today’s fast-paced society.

In anecdotes at the end of each chapter, Bounds gives readers snippets of information about her own past and wisdom she has learned along the way. Before discovering Guinan’s and the slow-paced town of Garrison, New York, Bounds admits she was living in the future and not concentrating on the present. She writes about feeling “as if a clock were ticking in [her] brain during [her] late teens—as if there would never be enough time to finish all the things I should do professionally”. I think most of us can identify with this viewpoint – there is constant pressure from ourselves, our family, and societal ideals to be thinking about the future and how everything we do (or don’t do) will affect us later in life. Life is becoming more and more structured with less and less free time, and this schedule is starting earlier and earlier. Today, even elementary school students are often overbooked with extracurricular activities, and the pace only increases as time goes on.

It is important to take a step back every so often to “put [our] busy little existence in perspective”, as Bounds says. For Bounds, Guinan’s was able to help her to live in the present and not think about all the things she “should” be doing. I believe it is important for everyone to find that special place where they can free their minds. This place is not be the “third place” that Glenn Reynolds writes about in “An Army of Davids”. The “third place” is where people go to “hang out”, often while working or being connected to society with cell phones, laptops, and other technology, but the place Bounds writes about is a place where one can feel at peace and relaxed.

For me, this place would be Dippikill, a camp run by SUNY Albany in the Adirondack mountains. There are miles of trails, a serene pond, and several cabins, so people can escape to this mountain retreat. When I am at Dippikill, I feel at peace with the world and can appreciate the natural quiet and beauty of my surroundings. Even if I cannot get there often, I take comfort in knowing Dippikill’s existence, just as Bounds takes comfort in the thought of Guinan’s.