If I had a foghorn, do you know what I’d shout?
(Besides how I’ll never understand why so many people think that God is actually a compelling justification for their particular policy preferences. /rant)
What I’d really shout—what I truly believe our people desperately need to hear—is this and this alone:
The well-being of our world urgently depends on our ability to respect the time we’ve been given on it.
Time is only on your side until you betray her, when you no longer acknowledge the beauty of the gift she has given you, but cast it aside in favor of greed, excess & misplaced lust.
She is the equivalent of a gracefully aged, profoundly wise Turkish woman, wrapped in the richest of royal purple cloaks adorned with the most regal of ruby earrings that dangle delicately, but with intention, from her earlobes. Her piercing green eyes sparkle with determination; a reflection of her fearless, yet stubborn character.
Time is kind when you honor her.
But she will turn on you at a moment’s notice.
The minute you turn your back on her.
It is then that she will become fickle.
She will become indifferent.
And unapologetic.
And her revenge will be to speed up your time on earth, so fast that your curse will be to wake up one day, and suddenly realize that your life has passed you by without so much as your participation.
And she will laugh.
Because with her, she doesn’t give second chances.
She will not give the gift again.
So I say to you—I caution you—to cherish her & her generosity. Appreciate her & her offering to you.
And do not let her gift go unnoticed.
Far too often, we willingly surrender our time—our most precious of resources—without so much as a second thought, be it in the name of more money or out of some false notion of obligation. We take its seeming endless nature for granted, assuming there’ll always be time for us later.
The problem is that there is no such thing as later—”later” is an imaginary concept that’s really nothing more than an optimistic hope, at best.
Now, on the other hand, is very real.
You can be certain of that.
So drop whatever you’re doing—whatever nagging thing that’s on your to-do list that seems important—and do something that actually is important.
That something is you.
The well-being of the world is depending on it.