What did Mick Jagger tell us? Time is on my side. Yes. It is. Time is on my side.
Yes, it is. And it goes on. And it goes on. But I think many people do not realize that the gifts that they have of time is really the only gift that they truly possess. All the other gifts that you can achieve in life, be it may money or perhaps beautiful relationships.
There are some truly beautiful people on this earth, aren’t there? All of this can all go away, but it is time that is the greatest gift, and you cannot get time back. That money I alluded to just a moment ago, it can be replaced. Believe it or not, beautiful relationships, as painful as it is at their loss, can be replaced, but time cannot. Time cannot.
Little story. The other day, I went to a used furniture store, a secondhand store, a junk store effectively. And looking at many items that were in the store, I got to be thinking about how these items were of great value to people at one point, but now they’re mostly old and broken and people are just throwing them away. Worthless, really. So then with my friend David, I walked down to a local train station, went into a restaurant there, and had lunch.
And on the way, I passed a man begging. It was a bright sunny day. It was a nice day. And he was sitting there with an empty bowl. Good looking man, about my age, little younger, and I kinda studied him.
And it took about an hour to walk to the train station and have lunch, took another hour. So let’s say now we’re into two and a half hours, and I walked back. And he was still there. He hadn’t moved and there were still no coins in his bowl. So that man had literally wasted as I see it, as I think most people would see it, he had wasted two and a half hours of his life.
Two and a half hours that would never be replaced. Now you would think to yourself, you would get up and try to go up and down the street begging if that was your profession quote unquote or something. You wouldn’t just sit there waiting, virtually waiting to collect money, but I also like to think waiting to die because if this is the way you’re wasting your time, soon your time will be taken from you, struck me as crazy. Absolutely crazy. And I thought to myself, just maybe there’s no one there inside that poor soul.
Maybe he is in the situation of lights on and nobody home because there are people around 10% of the population for sure do not think at all. And 5% are so brilliant that they’re a little bit like the prime mover. They’re contemplating their own thoughts but that leaves you and me the 85% that can affect change on an ongoing basis if we so desire. Gosh. Don’t waste your time.
I wanted to really shake the man, you know, because I’ve seen people, young people as well trying to being ordered to clean. They can’t do it properly. Once again, why would you waste your time when time is all you have without being in a state of excellence on an ongoing basis. Why not? Obviously, not being thoughtful, someone should shake you and say wake up and smell the roses because one day they won’t be here at all.
So with that in mind, I’d like to read you a small poem from Khalil Gibran. And Khalil Gibran is, I’m sure you know, famous for the book, the prophet, which is kind of an allegorical tale of a prophet. But the poem itself the book itself is really quite interesting, and it’s sold all over the world. Pick it up. You’ll enjoy it.
The prophet. So the poem is called Time XXI, and here it is.
“And an astronomer said, master, what if time? And he answered, you would measure time, the measureless, and the immeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.
Of time, you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing, yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness and knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream and that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space. Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless? And yet, who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the center of his being and moving not from love thought to love thought nor from love deeds to love deeds. And is not time even as love is undivided and paceless? And if in you thought you must measure time into seasons Let each season encircle all the other seasons and let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.”
So the time, of course, is about the concept. The poem rather is about the concept of time being immeasurable, truly immeasurable. So remember, there is no one like me. There never has been and there never will be, but I do live in time. The three questions we always talk about.
Right? Why am I here? What’s my mission? What happens when I leave here when my time is truly over? So think to yourself, I must get to work on me.
And remember, time is on your side, so most assuredly, don’t waste it. Spend it well. And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is everything, especially in association with time, and critical thinking is great. Truly great. You take care. God bless. Bye bye.