406 Words on Bad Meetings

On a search for the source of ridiculousness

There are some meetings so soul deadening (read: most meetings) that you find yourself in the fortunate position of asking deep questions about the nature of reality. And laughing to yourself. Bad meetings (read: most meetings), for the person whose interior life refuses to succumb to the numbing impact of formal greetings and draft agendas, become a theater for creative thinking. The way that the experience of tragedy in life can force us to ask serious questions about the meaning of life, so, too, can a bad meeting confront us with existential ponderings.

Last week, I found myself in a bad meeting (read: it was almost any meeting). At the same time, I knew the meeting counted for something. It was good that I was there. As a result of attending a bad meeting that also counted for something, I started to ask some serious questions about the meaning of life. How can it be that a bad meeting was in some way worthwhile? Well, what came to mind was that the meeting was important—and that maybe the meeting mattered. What do I mean?

Here is my new framework for reflecting on bad meetings: everything that matters is important, but not everything that is important matters. What is the distinction I am making between importance and mattering? The distinction, to my mind, turns on the difference between value and consequence. Something that is important possesses a certain value. Something that matters is consequential. I might give to a charity because it is important to do so (it is an action of value) but the charity organization might squander the funds and thus my donation is of no real consequence. My action is important, but it does not matter.

The distinction is not perfect. There is a way in which my donating matters to me, which is to say, there is a way in which my donation is of consequence to my life. Maybe I become more virtuous because of my act of charity. Maybe my lessening of material resources forces me to live more simply. And yet, there is the inescapable sense that if I give to a charity that does no good then my giving simply does not matter.

It seems to me that we human beings engage in many kinds of activities that are important but that do not matter. This means that life is funny. Especially a life filled with bad meetings.