Even with a watch on my wrist, I'm never exactly sure what time it is. Clocks in my house (and in my town) rarely agree. Although I depend on a lighted clock-radio throughout the night, it never reveals the same time showing on the cable box nor on the large battery-powered clock on the opposite wall. Just yesterday that large wall clock showed ten minutes before twelve as the room began to brighten with first light of dawn and it was, in fact, nearer seven a.m. than midnight or noon. The AA battery was exerting all its noisy power to push the minute hand up - without success.
Moving into the kitchen to brew a pot of breakfast coffee, a glance at the faithful battery-run kitchen clock showed me the correct time. The clock on the fireplace mantle is too small for my old eyes to read though the time (I am sure) is correct. My great-grandmother's 1857 chiming clock hasn't been wound in a decade - so it consistently reads 2:02 while a hugely oversized silver pocket watch, resting decorously on a bookshelf, its hands at 2:54, has refused to budge a minute in the past three months. There is also an indoor-outdoor thermometer with a solar clock, guaranteed correct by international standards, but which prefers Pacific Standard Time thus reading two hours behind Pigeon Creek's real time. Now is the time for coffee - nonetheless.
In childhood, time moves slowly. 'Just a minute' is too long to wait, 'later' may never arrive and 'tomorrow' is a fantasy - too nebulous to understand or touch. Somewhere during adolescence, time begins to make some sense. It becomes a reliable measurement of place, energy, event and accomplishment. Adult lives depend on calendars, clocks and timetables, usually with positive results. In retirement, it is sad to say, people become sluggish while time speeds up. Once again, 'just a minute' may be too long to wait, 'later' often arrives while snoozing and 'tomorrow' totally depends on whether the retiree wakes up the next morning, finds energy, has a desire to accomplish something (anything) or has the ability to evaluate whether the reward is worth the effort. Aaaah, time!
Lost time is never found again - Benjamin Franklin
I must govern the clock, not be governed by it - Golda Meir
Time is a commodity that ticks along whether the batteries are working or not - Nancy yTe
(________Your thoughts on time go here_____________________)
Tell me what you think. I'd like to know.
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