Tempus

Stop. Whatever you are doing, just stop for one moment, and take a serious, thoughful look at what is going on around you. I'm not talking about the whirr of the computer fan, or the blinking light of your fancy car's turn signal. That's all surface crap and clutter, hiding the part you really want-- really need to see.

Look at the PEOPLE around you. Look at what they are doing, what they have done, what they used to do but no longer can (or think they can) do. Look at how they interact and engage with one another. Look at them today, as they were yesterday and, if you can, see them as they might be tomorrow. See how no one remains still/frozen/unchanged as time passes?

You may want to feel sad or anxious. Don't. This is the true nature of time. Accept it. We want to find something permanent. An anchor point, a sturdy ground to get our footing. We plant TREES because trees seem permanent, by relative comparison. This is a human folly. We seem like clouds to the TREES-- always moving, pushed along by breezes they cannot feel, always changing, dissipating far too soon.

Look around you once more-- that change you perceive and fear, that ebb and flow, that give and take, is the tide of the universe. It is called LIFE. You can try to block it out and ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist, until one day it crashes over you-- or you can learn to accept it and comes to terms with it, and float on your back in it.

You must decide.