Fast and Slow

Fast-paced. Rapid. Hectic. They are the words I usually see people describing "development". But for me, it only takes an answer No to know how fast the world can change. Because before that No, it had always been a Yes. 

When I was four, I moved to a new neighborhood and was only 5 minutes away from a very big junction, where everyday my mom would take me on a little walk. I don't quite remember what were there that held my interest - as far as I can try, there were some pop-up butchers where my mom would grumble at me as I touched the meat. That would've been the most fascinating part of the trip, but somehow I can still recall the excitement everytime my mom said Yes. 

And all of a sudden, one day she said No. Like just after a night, you wake up and the street suddenly gets busier, the air is less clean, the butchers disappear and it is no longer safe to venture out there. But it actually did. The street did get busier, the air did become less clean and the butchers did vanish off thin air. 

When I was older, I managed to venture off on my own, crossing the junction to the other side of the road, to the bookstore where they rented out comic books. I definitely ran back and forth a thousand times only to witness traffic lights changing into timed traffic lights, from 15 seconds to 30 seconds and now 90 seconds timed traffic lights, and to witness a bridge crossing over that spoiled all the view. One day I stopped crossing the junction, because books suddenly became unwanted and because smartphones made quite an entrance.

So very shortly I only walked to the junction because it was more convenient for a Grab pick up. One time waiting for the driver I noticed a very fluff GSD. He even made it to the news because his owner fed him 15-trứng-vịt-lộn per day, which also hinted at you how fast the world had changed: one day you starve and the next day your dog is obese. 

The world is fast and at some points I felt disappointed in myself for being slow. Then one day someone told me a magic word "Zoom out", and when I zoom out, the world is also slow compared to the Universe and everything for me is, once again, back in perspective.