Idealism. Cynicism. The Pace of Unrelenting Time.
And so, another year begins, as though time itself dictated firm boundaries within which humankind is expected to function - stardust filling a galactic hour glass set to a 365 day schedule with an occasional cosmic glitch providing one more brief day.
Strange how the year 2005 seemed excessively long and dreary, filled as it was with evolving natural disasters worsened by man's tendency to dirty his own nest and place himself in ever more dangerous positions, and by man made ugliness, blindness and greed causing him to squander the quality of so many lives on frivolous, militant and mindless endeavors. Each day seemed to contain another different indignity, a grab for power from another quarter, a pitiful quest for dominance and control, or a unthinkable injury inflicted by one human on another or one group on its opposition.
One can't help but wonder what stepping over that cosmic boundary into 2006 will actually bring. Will the mistakes of the previous year be repeated? Will newly discovered wisdom suddenly prevail? Or will day follow day in sameness and struggle to control the uncontrollable or override the voices of dissent and restraint as we assist our false concept of progress and empiricism to annihilate what we say we value? Will globalized greed destroy our small planet before, in our localized greed, we destroy each other?
When we are young, time seems to creep by at a belligerently slow pace. When we are young, we have so much to learn and experience that each day is new and different, filled with something wonderful or pure or fresh. Sameness is an illusion, time is our ally, we can play and laugh without guilt, we can loll with impunity in the warmth of summer assured that pleasure will never end, that external demands are like butterflies and fireflies to be caught and admired. We can dream and imagine. We can plan and fill the daylight hours with simple accomplishments and pleasure, and sleep like exhausted puppies through night's recuperative hours and arise to start a brand new adventure the next day.
As we age, the tempo of time accelerates a hundred fold. We are left with fewer days to rectify mistakes, greater pressure to hasten conclusions, stressed and filled with panic that our unrealistic expectations will remain unfulfilled and time will deny us our greatest desires. So, we dance faster but not wiser, never learning to reflect or explore the basis for our greed or delusions. What were the idealized days of youth turn into the cynical madness of shortened days following days following yet more days of hollow sameness as variety lessens and new experiences vanish. It is this repetition, this monotony, this emptiness of the new that skews our sense of time and the worth of our own existence.
The ultimate question remains. Can we learn from each of the tragedies and horrors of a painful 2005 and turn 2006 into a more thoughtful and enjoyable year? Can we, regardless of age, make each day of this new period of time more positive and viable, more fresh in outlook, more adventurous in spirit, more filled with sound judgment and learning, more active in the resolutions required to rectify our errors and faulty steps? Can we find the fortitude and purpose to pick up a lance of character, jump on our steed named Integrity, and bravely joust against the lies we tell ourselves? Or will we merely acknowledge that here be dragons and let days follow relentless days while we hope not to be devoured?
And so, another year begins, as though time itself dictated firm boundaries within which humankind is expected to function - stardust filling a galactic hour glass set to a 365 day schedule with an occasional cosmic glitch providing one more brief day.
Strange how the year 2005 seemed excessively long and dreary, filled as it was with evolving natural disasters worsened by man's tendency to dirty his own nest and place himself in ever more dangerous positions, and by man made ugliness, blindness and greed causing him to squander the quality of so many lives on frivolous, militant and mindless endeavors. Each day seemed to contain another different indignity, a grab for power from another quarter, a pitiful quest for dominance and control, or a unthinkable injury inflicted by one human on another or one group on its opposition.
One can't help but wonder what stepping over that cosmic boundary into 2006 will actually bring. Will the mistakes of the previous year be repeated? Will newly discovered wisdom suddenly prevail? Or will day follow day in sameness and struggle to control the uncontrollable or override the voices of dissent and restraint as we assist our false concept of progress and empiricism to annihilate what we say we value? Will globalized greed destroy our small planet before, in our localized greed, we destroy each other?
When we are young, time seems to creep by at a belligerently slow pace. When we are young, we have so much to learn and experience that each day is new and different, filled with something wonderful or pure or fresh. Sameness is an illusion, time is our ally, we can play and laugh without guilt, we can loll with impunity in the warmth of summer assured that pleasure will never end, that external demands are like butterflies and fireflies to be caught and admired. We can dream and imagine. We can plan and fill the daylight hours with simple accomplishments and pleasure, and sleep like exhausted puppies through night's recuperative hours and arise to start a brand new adventure the next day.
As we age, the tempo of time accelerates a hundred fold. We are left with fewer days to rectify mistakes, greater pressure to hasten conclusions, stressed and filled with panic that our unrealistic expectations will remain unfulfilled and time will deny us our greatest desires. So, we dance faster but not wiser, never learning to reflect or explore the basis for our greed or delusions. What were the idealized days of youth turn into the cynical madness of shortened days following days following yet more days of hollow sameness as variety lessens and new experiences vanish. It is this repetition, this monotony, this emptiness of the new that skews our sense of time and the worth of our own existence.
The ultimate question remains. Can we learn from each of the tragedies and horrors of a painful 2005 and turn 2006 into a more thoughtful and enjoyable year? Can we, regardless of age, make each day of this new period of time more positive and viable, more fresh in outlook, more adventurous in spirit, more filled with sound judgment and learning, more active in the resolutions required to rectify our errors and faulty steps? Can we find the fortitude and purpose to pick up a lance of character, jump on our steed named Integrity, and bravely joust against the lies we tell ourselves? Or will we merely acknowledge that here be dragons and let days follow relentless days while we hope not to be devoured?
posted by kaz at 10:37 AM
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