Musings of the Muse – On Time and its Importance

We are taught and told from an early age that Time and Tide wait for no man. Therefore we must always seize time by the forelock.

Indeed that phenomenon spoken about is an important element in our daily life. We can even say that our very existence revolves around it. People should never let go of the fact that time is so precious that it must not be wasted. On the contrary, it should be used in a manner most wise and judicious.

It is unfortunate that people fail to appreciate the worth of time and as a result are engaged in fruitless activities. It is belated when they now come to the stark realisation that once time is gone, there is absolutely no way we can retrieve it. There is no such thing as turning back the clock.

Everyone knows the story of the little boy to whom a genie had offered a reel of thread, the same which represented his lifespan. The little boy could now unroll that reel either to grow up or simply to skip unpleasant situations. Life was boring for the little boy and he so badly wanted to grow up. So he unfurled the reel a little and before long he was an adolescent. Still there was no excitement to his life, what not with studies and never ending examinations. Fortunately he had a solution at hand. He kept on unfurling the thread so that, he had, without even being aware of it, unfurled the whole roll. One day, to his sheer amazement, the little boy was an old man on the point of dying. The saddest part was that he had merely been existing and not living. His life had then been nothing but emptiness. He did not even have the time for regrets because he was on his deathbed.

Of course, the story is an allegory, but it contains a veiled meaning. The didacticism, that is, the moral lesson, surely does not escape us. We must put every single second of life to good use and live. We must not content ourselves with merely existing. To exist is synonymous to barrenness, which is as bad as waste. Let us ensure that our life is lived in such a manner so that there is never room for regret. It would be the height of pity if later on in our life, we moan and lament at what we could have done, what we should have done but did not do. Don’t let it be, that at a point in our life, we must say:

“Si jeunesse savait, Si vieillesse pouvait”

Indeed, at each step of our life, so many opportunities are offered to us. The only thing for us to do is “Carpe Diem” and be thankful for the bounty that we are given.

* Published in print edition on 3 June 2016

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