Good Timing

I don’t know how many of you are awake these days before five, but the robins are. Appropriately enough, they are the first birds up. If you do happen to be awake when they get up these days you will be greeted by their beautiful song. The other day, that amazing song at the break of dawn got me thinking about the old adage of how “the early bird gets the worm”. But then I thought about the wag’s response, “What about the early worm?”. And then how someone else quipped that, “It’s the second mouse that gets the cheese”.

All this got me thinking about the importance of timing. Although being early can sometimes be a virtue, a good sense of timing is also a strong point of wisdom. There are lots of examples. Music and sports are obvious ones but it doesn’t end there. Comedians will tell you that it’s the difference between a good laugh and a bomb.

This past week, most people would really question the timing (and not just the timing) of comments by the chairman of MMAR (Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway) Edward Burkhardt. Burkhardt has quickly become the public face of the company being blamed for the death and devastation in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. And, although he seems to have made a myriad of mistakes, timing is definitely one of them.

1Chronicles speaks of the wisdom of a particular group of King David’s mighty men who were astute because they understood the times and knew how to act accordingly (1Chron 12:32). A person can do all the right things but if he does them at the wrong time, he will come across as a total buffoon, or even worse – heartless.  

This kind of ‘skill’ is part of a larger grouping of abilities. There is a rather new field of study into what is being called ‘emotional intelligence’ (EQ). They actually have workshops where they try and teach this stuff to people! But there is a strong debate as to just how ‘teachable’ these kinds of things are. For my part, I think they are probably learned at least in part, though I question whether they can be learned in an academic setting. I tend to believe that it’s more about paying attention, especially to the people around you, and that is learned more in the context of relationships; not so much cognitive, but more ‘intuitive’ resulting from more experiential kinds of learning. And it helps if you have the right opportunities to develop these types of sensitivities when you are very young. If you have the good fortune of having been born into a family (as I have) where your parents exhibited a strong sense of empathy and consideration of others, consider yourself blessed.

Another problem with seeking to ‘teach’ these types of things is that they are more a matter of character than they are of academic understanding. It’s one thing to be skilled at being acutely aware of what is going on in someone else's heart and life. It is quite another to actually care. Keep in mind that a good shyster can read people and can shed a tear at just the right time. So, like a lot of things, this becomes a matter of the heart. And as a matter of the heart it becomes a matter prayer. May God both soften and strengthen our hearts, please.