Skip to main content

Don't Blink

Is life really going faster these days? It sure seems like it to me. Is it because we're too busy? Or is a second just not what it used to be? Whatever it is, if you blink it's almost gone.

When I was a kid, the days seemed to go on forever. Not anymore. One of my theories is that since each day becomes an increasingly smaller part of the life we've lived, that each day seems to go by faster. Then again, I have a friend who makes a good case that the earth really is spinning faster.

Well, my oldest is now 16 and driving like a mad woman. And my youngest will turn 8 in about a week. The fact that a lot of my life has passed me by is staring me in the face.

One of the things I like about (some) country songs is that they get you to refocus on the important things in life. A new one by Kenny Chesney is called Don't Blink. It starts like this:
I turned on the evening news
Saw a old man being interviewed
Turning a hundred and two today
Asked him what's the secret to life
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said "All I can say is."

Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink
I feel like I've been blinking too much. So every time I hear Kenny Chesney's song now, it'll remind me. Life may still go as fast as it's always gone, but at least more of it will have been spent doing more important stuff, such as playing ball with the kids before they grow up and move out of the house.
Naw, don't blink
Life Goes Faster Than You Think
Don't Blink...
Labels:

Comments

  1. Urban Koda10/19/2007 07:49:00 AM

    Now there's a cheery post to start the weekend off with!!

    I have a friend with a different theory on life that I think might apply to this as well...

    As kids we lived in the moment... The past was done, and we really didn't to worry much about the future.

    Now, the present seems the furthest thing from our minds (at least mine) we worry about consequences of stuff we have done, things we need to prepare for, problems we might face, etc. etc. etc.

    I suspect that if we could shift into a lifestyle of living life in the present and leaving the past to itself and letting the cards for the future fall as they will, time may indeed seem to slow down a little...

    Better go, I have a ton of stuff to get done this weekend, and it seems like I'm running out of time to get everything lined up for it...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scott Hinrichs10/19/2007 09:05:00 AM

    Remember that children's brains are not fully developed. Most people's brains finally achieve full judgment capacity when they are in their mid 20s. So, some of this is biological. Some is due to perspective. And a lot is due to how busy we are.

    As long as people are busy, time seems to flash by at breakneck speed. But I know plenty of elderly folks whose declining health no longer permits them to be busy. Although they may still enjoy judgment and perspective, they sit around day after day watching the minutes tick slowly by.

    I don't mean to imply that all busy-ness is good. We could all probably find ways to improve the way we use time, which is one of our most precious resources.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting. If you have a Google/Blogger account, to be apprised of ongoing comment activity on this article, please click the "Subscribe" link below.

Popular posts from this blog

School Vouchers: "The Bramble Memo"

$429 million? What? Where? The legislative fiscal analyst for the State of Utah calculated the costs to the public schools over the next 13 years if school vouchers are implemented. It said the costs would be $5.5M in the first year, and $71M in the 13th year. Suddenly, the number I have started seeing thrown around was $429 million, the total costs for vouchers over 13 years. Where did that number come from? Enter the mysterious "Bramble Memo". In the past few days several of us (Jeremy, Utah Taxpayer, Craig, Sara, Urban Koda, Jesse, and me) have (sometimes?) enjoyed a lively discussion about school vouchers in Utah . Jeremy clarified to me the costs of the venture by linking to a copy of the Utah Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Impartial Analysis (LFA) of the costs of Vouchers , found on "The Senate Site". In my previous voucher article, I quoted some of Lavar Webb's article from last Sunday's Deseret News, wherein he stated that those total costs ...
66 comments
Read more

The Inhumanity of Bob Lonsberry: Waterboarding, Concentration Camps, and the the Bataan Death March

KNRS 570 radio talk show host Bob Lonsberry advocated waterboarding and other forms of torture during his show on April 21, 2009. More grotesquely, he was beaming with pride about his advocacy campaign. It's difficult to imagine then, that, by the same rationale, had Lonsberry been a German at the time of Hitler, or a Japanese during the Bataan Death March, that he would not have advocated torture of Jews in the concentration camps or the bayoneting and shooting of American soldiers on the Bataan trail. Torture, Torture, Everywhere! Nearly 80,000 American soldiers were captured by the Japanese in the To contemplate a discussion about whether or not torture is legal or whether it even works, it is first required to come to the conclusion that 'I am a child of God, but my adversary is a monkey'. Phillipines in 1942 and forced to march with no food and very little water for six days. If a man stumbled, if he didn't respond quickly to a command, or if he tried to get wat...
50 comments
Read more

"Media Matters" But Not The Truth

I don't even like Rush Limbaugh, but it's clear what he said about "phony soldiers". I'm not sure why Media Matters can't get it correct. Maybe because they don't want to. Update: Who's calling who a phony? Huh, moveon.org? Update 10/5/2007: There are many "phony soldiers" that the government is investigating. Why would Rush Limbaugh say that all soldiers who are against the war are "phony soldiers"? They're not. Rush knows it. I don't know why he would say that. But I don't have to try to figure out why, because HE DIDN'T SAY THAT. Media Matters has this to say about itself on its website : Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. At least they openly admit that they're only working at "correcting conservative misin...
38 comments
Read more