The View from the Meadow

Observations of the Passing Scene

Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre

Time, Marbles and Relativity

The View from the Down Side of the Hill

Life, itself, is the most important element in the human experience. It encompasses all of our worldly experiences, and without it there is nothing else for us here on earth.

Our second most precious element is time. We all have an unknown, but ultimately measurable, amount of time to live our lives. When we run out of time we also cease to live.

When we are young time seems inconsequential, so plentiful and full of energy. We think we have all the time in the world. But as we mature we gain a different perspective, one in which time seems to be passing more quickly year after year. As we crest the hill of life and see our rapidly declining years laid out before us it seems as though the pace accelerates.

This is the result of my Theory of Time Acceleration: time speeds up as it goes downhill.

And it will continue to accelerate until you inevitably hit the wall at the end of the ride, although there will also be many pitfalls and distractions along the way.

This shortening of time goes unnoticed at first, but eventually it will seem that days are passing more quickly. Soon the weeks begin to fly by, then the months. It becomes difficult to place events in proper perspective; harder to remember birthdays and holidays, they come so quickly; something that seems like it happened just last week could have happened last month or even last year.

Everything around you will seem to speed up, but it's really only you slowing down. A year eventually seems like five, ten seems like two. Years begin flying by in an increasing blur: a class reunion that happened five years ago seems like it was just last year; something that you thought happened two years ago could have occurred many years, even a decade or more, ago; tiny children grow up and leave the nest.

The quest, of course, is for each person to experience life to its fullest while making the maximum use of their allotted time here on earth. Each day should be savored for the gift it offers and explored for the good it contains; don't waste time on the negative.

An article offering an interesting method for placing time in perspective circulated recently on the Internet. The author, whose name is unknown, was contemplating the effect of time acceleration one cheery Saturday morning while enjoying a second cup of coffee.

The man loved Saturday mornings and he got to thinking about what made them so special to him. He ultimately decided it was because of several things: the quietness of the morning, as he got up before the rest of his family to enjoy this special time; the luxury of a leisurely breakfast and time to read the newspaper; the freedom from his daily work schedule; the opportunities offered by the day

He did the math and, figuring the average lifespan for a man to be about 75 years, found that the average man will have 3,900 Saturday mornings to experience in his lifetime. What a pleasant thought!

The man then realized that, at the age of fifty-five, he had already experienced 2,800 Saturdays before he even became aware of this phenomenon. He then subtracted 55 from 75 and realized that, according to the averages, he had just over 1,000 Saturdays left to enjoy. In an attempt to visualize this, and to help place his priorities in perspective, he developed the Theory of 1,000 Marbles.

The man located a large, clear-plastic container and then purchased 1,000 marbles, which he proceeded to place in the container. He checked his calendar and figured out precisely when he would reach the point where he would have 1,000 Saturdays left until he reaches seventy-five. On that date he placed the container in a conspicuous place in his workshop and each successive Saturday morning he removed a single marble and threw it away.

As he watched the number of marbles diminish over the years, watching his own time run out in the process, it helped him to focus on the truly significant things in his life, to get his priorities straight and to realize the importance of his friends and loved ones.

By the time he reached the age of seventy-five and removed the last marble from the container he fully understood what a blessing his remaining Saturdays would be. It made him especially appreciative for this extra portion of time granted him to enjoy the miracle of life. He vowed to spend it wisely, enjoying each day to its fullest, savoring the beauty in life and taking the time to enjoy the view, especially the sunsets.

I encourage all of you to get a jar and fill it, no matter what your age. Figure out how many special days you have until you reach the age of seventy-five. It will, in a small but significant way, help you to properly place your priorities. We must also know that there's a very good chance that you're going to lose all of your marbles along the way, but let's remember to focus on the good. Focusing on the bad is a waste of your precious time.

Choose your favorite day of the week and celebrate it. It might not be Saturday morning. It could be Sunday morning, a proven favorite among many people, or Friday night, the end of the workweek, or any other day that is personally important to you.

If you find that your container would be too large to keep around, might I suggest alternative materials. For instance, 1,000 pennies would only cost $10 bucks, probably a lot less than the marbles, and would take up far less space. And what better to do with pennies these days? You might just as well throw them away anyway, even the banks won't take them.

I might also suggest a slight variation to the 1,000-marble theory. When you reach the end of your jar, reverse the process by placing a new marble in the container every day thereafter. The slowly increasing number of marbles will further help you to visualize the passing of time and to fully appreciate each week as it comes.

May I further suggest replacing them at age seventy-five with dimes instead of pennies. Placing a dime in the container each week will still only cost 10 cents a week and after another twenty years you will have accumulated $100 worth of dimes. Not to mention the fact that quite a few of them will have appreciated impressively by that time.

This should make for one heck of a party in the home when you turn ninety-five.