Thoughts on "Speed Davening"

• Why do people daven so fast?
• How can one really communicate with Hashem, when all they are doing is trying to read the words as fast as humanly possible?
• It does not seem to me that when going 100 mph one has any concept of what one is saying - you are just "going through the motions" because "that's what I have been told to do" -you can not possibly be thinking about what you are saying
• This goes even more so when one is the "Shaliach Tzibur". In this capacity you are charged with the responsibility to daven for all those in the community, in particular for those who are unable to do so for themselves. To me, when a "Shaliach Tzibur" rushes through the davening, especially the Shmone Esrei, so quickly that the kehila can barely understand what he is saying, this is huge chillul Hashem.
• By the way, I come at this from the perspective of having "been there, done that". As a B.T. without a lot of formal schooling in this I very quickly fell into the trap of "gotta keep up", even if I had no clue what I was saying. This went on for many years. Then as my children grew and I watched them, and thought about the entire process of davening, my thoughts started to change. The watershed event was when I was saying kadish for my Father (obm). I started to take some time out to think about life, meaning, G-d, and lots of things. At some point I came to the realization that if I was going to daven, and have it have any meaning to me, much less Hashem, I needed to learn what I was saying, so I could think about what I was saying, EVERY time I davened. Only then did I feel that the actual act of davening would have any meaning or purpose.
• Having said this almost makes me sound hypocritical, but the vast majority of the people I see doing this (speed davening), are in fact FFB's, who should have a deep enough understanding of the function/purpose of davening to know better.