Skip to main content

About Time #2


Time is relative - witness daylight savings time.

Today is about time - where it comes from, how it's measured, what it does for you, what it doesn't. And a non sequitur - the letter "G" (for those Sesame Street enthusiasts). I've reflected on time in the past, it's a subject worth ongoing reflection (as time goes by...).

About Time - it's also the name of a movie that we watched on Sunday that provoked some further reflection. The premise is simple and interestingly explored - what and how would you go about living if you inherited the gift of time travel from your father? Bill Nighy, one of my favorite actors, is brilliant (as usual). Time, it seems, is all we have, and getting it back - "do-overs" as it were - holds an intriguing fancy. Except there is a limiting condition to this time travel - you cannot go back beyond a descendant because the conditions that produced that descendant change. So if you loved your child and went back before she was born (as happened in the film), you may end up back with a boy or some other offspring that occurred from that magical mix of time, place, circumstance, and genetics. 

In the end, the premise is to enjoy the moment, seize it, and make it memorable in its own minute way. Because then you don't have to go back again and relive that time to fix an errant situation or harvest the moment for all that it's worth. 

We lose time constantly, either through natural passing or contrived legislation (here and here). Strangely, it's not measured the same - by you, by me, by geography, by history. But it is always passing, always losing itself to the moments that continue without cease. Ultimately, we have a choice as to how we measure time and how we lose it, the manner in which it goes away. It's a powerful notion to think that we can choose what we do about time before it's gone.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everyday Love Poem to my Wife

Over a year of marriage carries Happiness, love, and sometimes cranberries But eventually the pace slows down, Work intrudes, some days a frown And suddenly the world has changed. What we must do is simply rearrange The days so that other things fit neatly In their own places, and move on sweetly To the beauties of the everyday together. Because there is love everywhere, wherever You shall be - and perhaps also Rosie - This is a good thing naturally, So good to state it thus and remember That only frigid mornings in November Can keep us apart, but only so long As the work day lasts because so strong Is our pact that I worry not a wink - Your loveliness is worth so much, I think.
2 comments
Read more

Muggles...

...is what I tweeted last night after having the privilege of attending a private screening of the movie hours before the midnight premiere. As much as the digital revolution has fragmented the shared experiences that we have, it has also greatly expanded the impact of those events that touch various peoples. Witness Harry Potter. In the pre-digital world, this would have been an uniquely British story about wizards and boarding schools, but it has captivated global audiences and transcended the borders of its now-uber-wealthy writer. We were part of the crowd that spanned the globe to see this movie, which I can say, lives up to the hype. On a Thursday evening, we could watch the lines of children queuing up to get a chance to say goodbye to a childhood growing up with Harry Potter and watching the actor grow from a plump-faced little boy into a serious actor and apparent alcoholic. It did not matter for 2.5 hours in the theater, of a movie that was pretty gripping from beginnin...
1 comment
Read more

In Memory of Rose

Pets have an uncanny ability of ingraining themselves into the fabric of a household, so much so that their disappearance can cause great grief and disorientation to their owners. Such is the case with Rose, who passed from our household on Sunday. An older dog when we took her in to our home last year, Rose was supposedly the runt of her litter, a fact confirmed by her diminutive 5-pound Pomeranian frame - too small for her breed but too big to be classified a "teacup." This suited her just fine, however, as she came to embody a singular personality as a dog among people, often little acknowledging some dogs and appearing frightened by others just as a hesitant human being might act around jumpy canines. Rose embodied all of what defines unconditional love. She was raucous when we would leave the house and even more raucous when we returned, partly due to separation anxiety but mostly due to her sadness and excitement of being around us; she let us know her affection b...
3 comments
Read more