Friday, August 18, 2006

Time has Come

Time is fascinating to me. This same area of space can be occupied by so many different objects, but not at the same time. In that same line of thinking time can be so different yet remains the same. Every convoy I went on in Iraq was the longest convoy I had ever been on until it was over and I was still alive, then it was nothing to me anymore.

Look back at your last year. Or think back to when you were a teenager and discovering the opposite sex for the first time. It was just yesterday wasn't it? Yet, at the same time you think, how did I get here? Where did the time go? Scientists see time as a constant, it is just our mind's interpretation of time that changes. Something as simple as a few seconds can change everything.

Time affects us all, and it affects each of us differently. I donÂ’t believe that you can have 2 different people do the exact same thing for the same period of time and have it affect them in the exact same way. One might feel more tired than the other, or perhaps it reminds the other of some event which the latter hasn't experienced.

With time things come always closer to an end. Things begin to die the moment they come into existence, even as they grow the time of their death comes closer. So many say there is just not enough time, yet so much can happen in a single second. Life can change forever in a single second. If you were to compile a list I am sure you would find almost all of the major events in your life happened in a second. The second you saw your child born, or perhaps the moment a loved one went from a breathing living person with thoughts and ideas to a dead corpse, or even the moment the words slipped out of your mouth and you knew there was no taking them back or un-saying them.

The universe can shift for some in but a moment. Seconds, moments, instants, those are the most monumental aspects of time. Decisions are made during those infinite instants, things can never be undone in those moments, and seconds are all that exist between life and death so many times each day. Deciding to swerve right instead of left when the person slams on their breaks in front of you.

War happened in an instant, just as a child is born during that same moment. War is all I can think about sometimes and then all I can see is how easy it can be. To choose to use force instead of so many other things to decide what is right. Time will be telling us secrets as well, things like were we right? What happens after that second is over? It becomes history which is permanent, concrete with its unchanging monumentality.

History is time past. All those seconds which change the universe become one long span which tells us the stories we read about in school. Things like religion, slavery, civil war, love, and hate. War, it always come full circle to war doesn't it? Ask the Iraqis how long the last few years have been. Ask Lebanon how long the last month has been. I can only guess, but I believe they would both answer you that it has been a lifetime. That is their history now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. I will print this out and read it over more than once. Excellent, Zach.

A friend of mine just told me that her 17 year old son just signed up for the army, scheduled to leave as soon as he finishes his senior year. What would you say to him?

Halla said...

Zach, you see time pass faster when you have kids, they are babies one year and you turn around and they are adults, and then you wonder where all that time went..........

Lynn, It's too late to ask the kid "what the hell are you doing?" I would just be supportive and pray for him.

Anonymous said...

another one for/from the universal soldiers of whatever faith, nation, time.........

http://blogcentral.jpost.com/newsItems/viewFullItem$644

when all is asid and done and destroyed, the insects are going to win

Anonymous said...

another one for/from the universal soldiers of whatever faith, nation, time.........

http://blogcentral.jpost.com/newsItems/viewFullItem$644

when all is said and done and destroyed, the insects are goi

and this

http://www.williambowles.info/gispecial/2006/index.html

roamer, you re-upped yet?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great post and thought-provoking blog. I've recently passed out of basic training in the British Army, and I find it helpful to read your thoughts when thinking about what might lie ahead. It's interesting to see how people try to make sense of war.

Best wishes.