Flashback Friday

Believe it or not "time" is a philosophical topic much like the nature of mankind itself.   For most folks like you and me it is simply a way to measure the rate of change.  For us it is measured in minutes hours and days.  Our forefathers measured it more in terms of seasons.  

Emmanual Kant, a philosopher, not one of my favorites, wrote of time:  "If time is infinite, then there could not have been a beginning to time.  However, an infinite period cannot have be completed:  if it is infinite it must go on forever.  But if there is no beginning to time, then an infinite period has already elapsed, which is impossible.  Therefore it cannot be the case that time had no beginning.  On the other hand, if time had a beginning there must have existed a state of no-time. In a state of no-time there is no way to distinguishing one "moment" to the next. But that is impossible given that time now exists.  If time had a beginning, there must have been a moment preceding this beginning and this moment can be distinguished from all other moments by its proximity to the beginning of time.  But this is a contradiction because..."well, you get the rest of this gobbledygook don't you.  

All he is saying, and in a convoluted fashion, is that time exists all by itself (not man-made) and is an observable phenomena that we cannot explain.   When you don't know stuff you throw in words like "contradiction", "wherefore's" and "impossible."  

However interesting that discussion may be over a few cold ones at a certain community center in Northlandia, this much is certain. Time exists, and in my personal observation, sometimes it flies.  These are my thoughts about time:

Time will continue for infinity.  The universe, indeed, all universes are constantly moving and can be measured in time, if such observations were possible. 

A day will come when we as individuals can no longer observe time.  This doesn't mean that time ends for us, it simply means that we, in a state of death, no longer have the capacity for observing the passage of moments.  

Therefore savor, taste, feel, grab, hug, smell life.  Be kind to your neighbors, love your family and friends.  If you have a chance to take a bike ride with a buddy, you damn well better do it, the chance may never come again.  If you are with family make it fun and memorable, someday the opportunity will end.  Be aware and cognizant that moments are temporary - and precious.  Make them count.

Before and after pictures are always kind of bittersweet.  We have bookending moments.  A time before and a time after.  Evidence of life's passage.  The top picture of the boys, young and just starting.  The lower one taken last summer showing the passage of moments.  

This weekend, if you have the time, give some thought to making your moments especially meaningful.  Tell your kids you love them.  Visit your folks and tell them straightaway and face to face what they have meant to you.  You get the idea.  Its not like you have all the time in the world.