"Where has the time gone?" - by Pinchas Winston

Where has the time gone?
------- // -------
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston *
Some say time is actually speeding up. This may simply be an illusion, the product of so much distraction that we can barely be conscious of the passage of time. One hundred years ago, life was much simpler and the world was much smaller. It could take weeks before someone found out what happened half across the globe. Today it takes seconds, as information constantly streams in from all over the world. There is so much to juggle at one time.

In the meantime, technology becomes increasingly more magical. Once toys were only for children; today they are more sophisticated and expensive, and for adults as well. Some are small and some are large, but all of them engage the interest of their owners to such a degree that they are no longer that conscious of their immediate surroundings.

Today, a person gets onto a bus or into a taxi and immediately reaches for his cell phone to make a call, or his smart phone to check his mail. Minutes will go by and the scenery will change around him, but he won’t be aware of it ... [sic]. Some say time is actually speeding up, literally. I heard a radio interview not long ago with a scientist who said that the earth’s rotation is a little quicker than it used to be, making the day a little shorter. I’m not sure how that affects clocks that work according to a 24-hour day, but it is an interesting idea nonetheless. Whatever the reason, not only does time fly these days, but it seems to do so at supersonic speed!

We’ve known for some time that time is relative (boring relatives make time seem to move slower). And, though it seems to exist in the background, the truth is, it is crucial for making life meaningful. Without it and its deadlines, we probably wouldn’t accomplish very much from day to day, feeling that we can always put off until tomorrow what we could have done today.

Deadlines change all of that. People who appreciate how precious life is also appreciate the value of a moment. They are the ones who do not put off until tomorrow what can be done today, because tomorrow’s opportunity may never come. Things constantly change and life is full of surprises so the wise man seizes the moment and always uses it meaningfully.
_________________________
* Source: http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5773/vayechi.html