Time - feast or famine?
My busy lifestyle has come to an end. With retirement or COVID-19? Both, I guess. But it’s made me a keen observer of how I/we use that precious (yet often wasted) resource called Time.
Under present circumstances, most of us have much more of it. Wait, the day hasn’t lengthened. There’s still 24 hours in a day for all of us. How does it go? Take about 6-8 hours to sleep; another 1-3 for meal preparation and eating (we’re at home more now). Let’s try to get in an hour for some type of exercise. Can’t forget the “gadget” time. Recent surveys show that American adults spend about 3 1/2 hours on our devices, keeping up with emails, texts, social-media updates and 24/7 news giving us updates on the virus. According to my addition, that leaves a healthy 8 hours to do — what?
For some, it’s working at home, still bringing in a paycheck. For me, even though I dont’ have to worry about working a job, I still put myself on sort of a work schedule. I plan my day hour by hour. Is that a good or bad thing? Both, I think. The irony of our current situation is that many are finding themselves with time “on their hands.” They’ve moved from a society/culture that rushed us through each hour, making us busier and busier, trying to cram more and more into those additional 8 hours to wondering how we’ll fill up a day.
Whether it’s feast or famine, it’s time. I want to use it wisely, as I lead my “long lived life.” I hope it will be long, but I also know it is limited in its length. That’s why this poem struck a chord with me. I don’t know where it came from. I found it in a pile of papers on my desk. It was printed on nice parchment paper, folder to fit in a small envelope, so it was sent to me by someone. Whoever it was, I’m glad they did.
My Soul Has a Hat
by Mario deAndrade (San Paolo 1893-1945)
I counted my years and realized that I have less time to live by, than I have lived so far. I feel like a child who won a pack of candles: at first he ate them with pleasure but when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.
I have no time for endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will happen.
I no longer have the patience to stand absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up. My time is too short; I want the essence; my spirit is in a hurry. I do not have much candy in the package anymore.
I want to live next to humans, very realistic people who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their own triumps and who take responsibility for their actions. In this way human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty.
It is the essentials that make life useful. I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul. Yes, I’m in a hurry. I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give. I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts. I am sure they will be exquisite, much more than those eaten so far. My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience. We have two lives and the second begins when you realize you only have one.
