Time

Although time is simply an idea—an intellectual concept—people talk about time as if it is a commodity. People view time as something that can be saved, spent, used wisely, or wasted. Americans not only speak of time as something tangible but, more importantly, they believe it is scarce. It is considered a valuable but limited resource. “Time is money!” One hears people wishing aloud that they could just add a few hours to the day or another day to each week. Then they could get everything done. “There’s never enough time,” they complain!

- Guide to American Life

Contrast that with the Middle Eastern concept of Insh'Allah:

In šaʾ Allāh (إن شاء الله) is an Arabic term evoked by Arabic, Persian, and Urdu speakers to indicate hope for an aforementioned event to occur in the future. The phrase translates into English as "God willing" or "If it is God's will", sometimes spoken as DV, the Latin abbreviation for Deo volente.

The term is also related to another Arabic term, Mā šāʾ Allāh (ما شاء الله), which means "God has willed it".

This word is often used to indicate a desire to do something that you wish may occur. This also provides God's blessing on what you are about to do. For example, if you want to do something, in particular if you know that it is very hard to achieve, you invoke God's blessing before it occurs or before you set out to do it. In Judaism, B'ezrat Hashem (בעזרת השם), "With God's Help," and Im Yirtze Hashem (אם ירצה השם), "If God wishes it," are used for the same reason.

Usage of Insha'Allah derives from Islamic scripture, Surat Al Kahf (18):24 : "And never say of anything, 'I shall do such and such thing tomorrow. Except (with the saying): 'If God wills!' And remember your lord when you forget..."

In this great piece, Cullen Murphy discusses the term and how the US Army is adopting the concept as a result of the Iraq war:

When worlds collide, the sparks are sometimes linguistic. Not long ago, in a Q and A on the Web site of The New York Times, an Iraqi translator was asked to explain the points of difference he saw between his own people and the Americans he encountered in Iraq. He brought up the Arabic phrase "inshallah." The Americans, he said, "have respect for time"; Iraqis, in contrast, "use the word inshallah, which means `if God wishes,' to postpone things."

It may be that this point of difference won’t be a distinction much longer. An American colonel in Iraq, writing to The Washington Post’s Thomas E. Ricks, recently observed: "The phrase ‘inshallah,’ or ‘God willing,’ has permeated all ranks of the Army. When you talk to U.S. soldiers about the possible success of ‘the surge,’ you’d be surprised how many responded with ‘inshallah.’” The phrase seems to have permeated all ranks of the diplomatic corps, too: Zalmay Khalilzad, when he was the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, once stated at a press conference, “Inshallah, Iraq will succeed.

- The American Scholar

Americans have a strong sense of agency over the world around them, from our schedules to our careers to creating a new world order. Careful planning and hard work can conquer all, even if love can't. This NYT article is the perfect example of that - two American couples decide that if their sex lives aren't working for them, they're going to have to work for their sex lives.

That they thought a sex marathon would reinvigorate their marriages might say as much about the American penchant for exercise and goal-setting as it does about the state of romance.

I couldn't agree more. I'll have to write later about American-style exercise vs. general physical activity. Insh'Allah.