There is this thing, a box, a basket, a very minor burden, at my feet, and it has to be moved a 100 feet or so.

I can do the thing myself, in less time than it will take to complete this thought.

Or.

I can summon a gofer whom I will instruct to perform the same work.

In India, in some circles, the latter is the way to go.  There are always gofers; if you cannot find your own, you must use someone else’s.  I can have all the time in the world, but I must not do the work myself.  I did what came naturally a few times, and caused significant consternation up and down the totem pole.

I had always fetishized a sort of low footprint self-reliance.  Get through the day with a minimum of dependence on other folks.   Here, an entirely opposite skill is prized.   I must be able to acquire, maintain, and drive, a small crew of gofers, who will do all of my personal work, except of course, the very personal ones.

This morning, I noticed cobwebs at a couple of corners in our house.   I stood there looking at them, and then called the young lady gofer that works for my parents.  I showed her the cobwebs and started to turn away before it occurred to me to raise my arms 45 degrees and clear away the cobwebs myself.  Predictably, the lady gopher said, “Don’t, don’t, I will take care of that”.