Bryan W. Alaspa 1The time accelerator
November 4th 2009 14:46
I remember when I was in about seventh grade and the principal for my school was teaching a class. He said that we would all be amazed at how fast the high school years would go past. I remembered sneering and snorting in derision at that. It seemed like forever that I had been at the school I was at and I had first started there in fourth grade. Here it was, three years later, and it seemed like it had taken eighteen years. Certainly four years of high school would seem like forever.
I didn’t know, however, that at that time the giant fast-forward button would be pushed on my life. I think, however, that this button gets pushed on everyone’s life at that time. It seems unfair. During those previous years, when you were doing stupid things like jumping in mud and riding bikes all over the place and other stupid things, times seems to stretch out forever. Life seems long and full of good things and the summer seems to be an eternity. I remember those three months of summer vacation seeming like a lifetime.
Now, of course, the entire year flashes past me in the blink of an eye. I am sitting here in my office and looking at a calendar and I am shaking my head at the fact that it is November again. I swear, it was just November and I was preparing to visit my aunt’s place for Thanksgiving just yesterday. How is it possible that an entire year has rocketed past again?
Of course, the irony is that I would now appreciate things a bit more than when I was a kid. Like most kids, I figured I was invulnerable back then and that time would just go on forever. I can remember when I first learned that everyone died. I knew people died, but on the TV shows they only died when they got shot or came down with some horrible disease. It seemed easy enough for me to understand how to prevent dying, just don’t get shot or come down with any disease. When my mother informed me that, yes, everyone dies but that it wouldn’t happen to me for a very long time, I smiled and bit into my sloppy Joe sandwich.
Now I would be able to appreciate a day that goes on forever. Now, I would appreciate a summer that seems to take forever. These days, the seasons fly past so fast that I barely have time to notice them when they change. Somewhere along the lines the things that we should notice and the things that really are important got lost and the idiotic things that cloud our minds took hold. They serve to distract and annoy and, before you know it, life has flashed past and another year has gone. It’s sad, really.
I am staring 40 in the face. I cannot believe that at all. I could barely handle turning 30, and I have no idea how I am going to face down middle-age. But I wish I could push the pause button for a while. Maybe that happens when you get older, but, again, the irony is that you probably don’t notice much then either, just like when you were a kid.
Maybe, at least, when I turn 80, they will allow me to jump in mud puddles again and it won’t seem weird.
I didn’t know, however, that at that time the giant fast-forward button would be pushed on my life. I think, however, that this button gets pushed on everyone’s life at that time. It seems unfair. During those previous years, when you were doing stupid things like jumping in mud and riding bikes all over the place and other stupid things, times seems to stretch out forever. Life seems long and full of good things and the summer seems to be an eternity. I remember those three months of summer vacation seeming like a lifetime.
Now, of course, the entire year flashes past me in the blink of an eye. I am sitting here in my office and looking at a calendar and I am shaking my head at the fact that it is November again. I swear, it was just November and I was preparing to visit my aunt’s place for Thanksgiving just yesterday. How is it possible that an entire year has rocketed past again?
Of course, the irony is that I would now appreciate things a bit more than when I was a kid. Like most kids, I figured I was invulnerable back then and that time would just go on forever. I can remember when I first learned that everyone died. I knew people died, but on the TV shows they only died when they got shot or came down with some horrible disease. It seemed easy enough for me to understand how to prevent dying, just don’t get shot or come down with any disease. When my mother informed me that, yes, everyone dies but that it wouldn’t happen to me for a very long time, I smiled and bit into my sloppy Joe sandwich.
Now I would be able to appreciate a day that goes on forever. Now, I would appreciate a summer that seems to take forever. These days, the seasons fly past so fast that I barely have time to notice them when they change. Somewhere along the lines the things that we should notice and the things that really are important got lost and the idiotic things that cloud our minds took hold. They serve to distract and annoy and, before you know it, life has flashed past and another year has gone. It’s sad, really.
I am staring 40 in the face. I cannot believe that at all. I could barely handle turning 30, and I have no idea how I am going to face down middle-age. But I wish I could push the pause button for a while. Maybe that happens when you get older, but, again, the irony is that you probably don’t notice much then either, just like when you were a kid.
Maybe, at least, when I turn 80, they will allow me to jump in mud puddles again and it won’t seem weird.
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