“Once Upon A Time . . .”

“Once Upon A Time  .  .  .”

          But what is time?  Clearly the phrase, “Once upon a time” used to begin children’s storybook tales is intended to be timeless, not designating any particular time.  But these mirthful “never-never lands” of childhood, eventually give way to the adult world of clocks and watches that measure time.  But once again, what is time? While clocks and watches measure the time of day or night in our planet’s rotation, calendars track the passage of days, weeks, and months in the earth’s annual revolution around the sun, marking the seasons of  Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.

          As a New Year begins, our 2013 Calendars are already beginning to keep track of future appointments, and we grow a year older, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries.   But what is time? Sometimes we spend time to save money, and at other times spend money to save time, depending how much of each we have, or which is more important.  The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos from which we derive the word chronology, an expanse of time; and kairos, the here and now, present moment.  So often, our head and heart are not where our feet are - our conscious mind is so preoccupied with a past resentment or shame, or a possible future fear or threat that we fail to enjoy and savor the here and now in all of its wonder.        As our time on this earth diminishes, let us spend it well, cherishing each unrepeatable moment as an awesome gift.  A new day dawns and a New Year beckons.  Carpe diem!  Savor the moment – each unfolding precious moment!

James K. Bogert