Reading newspapers gives me the feeling that today everything and everybody seem to be moving at a spanking pace. And the reality confirms my feeling.

Look, pedestrians are quickening their pace as if they are afraid to lose out to other people who are a step ahead of them, commuters grab a bite at the food stalls by the roadside in order to catch the subway train, students plod away assiduously to prepare for exams while others are shouting nineteen to the dozens into their mobile phones whether they are riding a bus or scurrying along.

These people act as though they have been sucked into a maelstrom. But upon reflection I've yet to face some other hard facts that seem to contradict my viewpoint. In the city, it has become routine for government officials to take to wine at noon and bathe in the afternoon. Harassed by the noise from a construction site in the neighbourhood for nearly a year, the residents petitioned all the parties concerned to assuage their sufferings but got nowhere, because the persons in charge were experts at passing the buck to one another.

It was only through the hotline installed by the local TV station and the intervention of the media that the thorny problem finally got settled. We have been talking for a hell of a long time about the pernicious effect of Internet cafes on minors, but the blueprint for really effective measures seems to be still lying on the drawing board.

The news media have been screaming for the lessening of the pressures on schoolchildren. Thanks to the efforts of the State Education Commission, clear-cut guidelines aiming to address the problem have been put forward. Yet it remains to be seen whether they will be carried out to the letter.

All these, when put together, bear out the assumption that there are people who have got plenty of time to spare. To them, the reality of the motto "Seize the Day, Seize the Hour" is a remote probability.

Yet we are not short of zealous promoters of the motto, though their understanding of it characterizes them as vermin or borers rather than bricklayers building a mansion.

In a village inhabited by 700-odd people, five village cadres gobbled up a large chunk of the public funds allocated to the village, some 520,000 yuan (US$63,400), in a matter of eight months. This huge amount of money was largely spent boozing with their superiors. Can we say they were not good at making use of every minute of the time while they were in power?

Neither is it rarely seen that in the name of making an inspection tour, some people misappropriate the funds entrusted to their care to tour foreign countries and cities over a stretch of 10 days or more. Instead of being rebuked for the misdeed, they often receive accolades for their efficiency in fulfilling the mission.

The boot is on the other foot if we brand these people and the like as snail-paced loafers.

As for elderly people, we cannot but slow our pace even if we opt for an accelerated rhythm in our lifestyle. For example, we have to queue up patiently to register at a hospital, wait our turn to see the doctor and line up again to pay for the medicine and so on and so forth. We are usually worn out by the time we drag our feet back home.

Therefore, the news media have to think twice before venturing an opinion about a fast-paced society.

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