Wednesday, 17 October 2012

ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND AND...



The alarm rings. You try to shut it off. The alarm rings. You succeed in stopping it. You try to wake up. “Another five minutes, please”. No good. You have to get up. Bathroom. Get dressed. Breakfast (if you are lucky and have time). Transport. Crush to get to work. Frustration with others. Work. Hassle, problems, stupid people. Coffee. More work, more coffee. More work. Something to eat. More work, more stupidity, more frustration. Finish. Transport. Crush of people. Frustration with others. Home. Dead tired. Family. Problems. Walk the dog. Shout at wife…..


So goes the day – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Even maybe Saturday. The same rhythm, day after day, week after week. The path most easily followed. BUT, one day, the “WHY” creeps in and everything begins in a weariness tinged with amazement. And it is the “begins” that is so important. Weariness comes at the end of the acts of a mechanical life but at the same time awakens consciousness.

Time carries us onwards and forwards. We live on the future. “Tomorrow”, “later”, “when you’re old enough to understand”, “when you have made your way in life”…. and so it goes. A time comes when the individual notices he is 30; he can assert his (comparative) youth. He is part way on the curve of time and recognises he has to stay with it to the end. He belongs to time and at the same time he is seized by a horror - he recognises his worst enemy – time.


We yearn for “tomorrow”; it will be “better”, “different”…but it rarely is, and so round and round and round and…


I am (semi) retired; I do not have the rhythm I show above; I do not have expectations of “better” or “different”. I do not suffer the mechanics of such a life, nor do I recognise time as my enemy. In my case,

There is one thing wrong with retirement:
You never get a day off


Until next time (and not at all weary),


Peripatetic Scribe

4 comments:

  1. Very, very good, P.S. You have mastered the art of putting into words the everyday "suffering" of the majority of people. Luckily, like you, I am not in that category, neither am I (yet) in your comment on retirement - which I think is excellent - this is a great way to remind the non-thinkers precisely what their life adds up to. Good for the kids, as well!
    Mark NZ

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  2. So true! You have managed to raise several extremely valid points yet again!
    Someone said "Carpe diem" long before our time and they were absolutely right. Nevertheless, sometimes it is easier said than done.
    Thank you
    Lucana

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  3. Mark, thank you. The sooner people understand what "life" should be, the happier they can be, in my opinion.

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  4. Lucana, thank you. "Carpe diem" is tough, but if you wish to have a "life" then you make every effort to get out of the pit of routine and go for something better.

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