It's About Time
A periodical made it it’s moniker over a century ago. In 1936 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were swinging with it. Jagger even sang about it back in ’64. In the 80s and 90s Dunkin’ Donuts parlayed it into a catchphrase to mark the moment for Fred the Baker to “make the donuts”. Over the years we’ve seen that it can develop a wrinkle or a warp, have its own machine or capsule and that it isn’t there for sergeants. Oh, and it flies. And while it does, it waits for no one, it just keeps on slippin’, slippin, slippin’. But, get this, you can have it on your hands. And, if you want, you can race against it. Meanwhile, it can be borrowed, appointed, or a-wastin’. Hell, it can even team up with space to form its own continuum. And the Miller Brewing Company?... yeah, it has its own special niche. And to top it off, it can be both idle and of the essence. So, what’s this all about? C’mon, now, you’ve got it, right?... Yeah, it’s about time.
Indeed, knowing we each have a finite number of days on this planet is what makes time so precious. Once the sands run out, yeah, you’d better have your affairs in order ‘cause the powers that be are about to put a fork in you. Really doesn’t matter who you are, either; Musk, Bezos and Gates can pool every last penny, but it won’t buy ‘em a New York minute; the Grim Reaper can’t be bribed. Oh, sure, you can try to get around it like Walt Disney and have your head frozen until science can defrost it and put it onto a new body, freeing you up to continue running your empire where people can go to your “Land” or “World” for the same price it takes to heat Moscow for the entire winter but, hell, who would you even see about something like that, right? All in all, time is the great equalizer because no matter where you are on the food chain, lifespans are pretty much the same. Then again, the rich people fare way better when it comes to healthcare, so there is that.
All that being said, it’s still amazing how we as a species manage to take time for granted. Hell, if given half an opportunity, we’ll knowingly waste it on our phones in a Candy Crush marathon or become enthralled over one of those “Housewives of Pick a City, Any City” TV episodes, or even worse, show up at the DMV, expecting to have someone there take us seriously. We’ll sit on a park bench and people-watch. We’ll flip cards into a hat, take bets on what color car comes by next. We’ll nap. We’ll make a Bucket List that we know won’t go anywhere. We’ll organize our junk drawer or sit and think for a long while about cleaning out our garage before we come to our senses. Hell, if need be, we’ll take the entire day off, calling out sick with some cockamamie excuse that we’re suffering from sudden onset Tinnitus (sorry, was that just me?).
Look, here’s the thing: knowing that we have only so much time can be a lot, that’s why we do our best to suspend the notion. It’s why we compartmentalize, why we play it off as something that concerns others. And it’s why we fool ourselves into thinking we can control it by using it in our speech patterns in every way possible. Thus, we have timekeepers and time management consultants, all constantly working with timetables within time frames. We invest in time shares on a time-payment plan. And when we get time-pressed we call a time-out. We sort our meals into breakfast time, lunch time and dinner time and even midnight snack time which usually occurs sometime after bedtime. We punch the time clock, breaking our hours down to regular time, time-and-a-half, double time and even triple time. Meanwhile, prisoners doin’ time are looking to get out early on account of “time for good behavior”.
So, yeah, we live in a world where timing is everything (that and who you know… those two things). Oh, and one more feature regarding time: The older you get, the faster it whizzes by, to the point where your past recollections can be off by a decade or more. You realize your “seems like just yesterday” moment happened while Clinton was in office (first term!). It’s like, at some point the years go exponentially faster. No one knows quite why. They just do. And who can say, maybe time really is relative. Maybe the mayfly with its lone day of life feels he’s lived as long and full a life as humans. One thing I do know, back in ’64 when Mick was singing “Time is on My Side”, he had a point. Today?... not so much. Okay, time to bounce.