Ides of July

Mid-month, the Ides of. Reached so quickly, two weeks have passed plus one day. Shocking passage of time, the speed of it. A few years back I was in my 20’s and 30’s. I still feel those days despite the intervening decades.

I know I’m not alone in this. Just about everyone I talk to agrees that time speeds faster with age.

What does this tell us? Of what value is this sensation? Indeed, is it fact? Or merely an impression?

I have heard people say they wanted to live until the day they see their granddaughter marry. But then, they want to be present to know the first baby of the granddaughter. And then it is a grandson’s wedding they want to see, and then experience yet another new generation's birth.

I get it. I really do. I’m as guilty of these feelings and statements as other people.

Trouble is that those events do come to pass. Twenty years flies by and the newborn is suddenly a college graduate, a career beginner, and maybe a bride to be in short order. Still other grandkids are quickly progressing through their school years. The markers of those grades tell the story of aging. They are young, not I. I just continue to age as they do only with wrinkles and stumbled pace.

Working with a client the other day, I said something about the accumulative wisdom gained over 8 decades. He stopped me short. He didn’t believe I was old enough to mark those decades. But I am. And the wisdom is there but not always retrievable. That’s just another sign of the passage of time!

And yet, philosophical reflections appear often. Those reflections are the articulators of experience turned into wisdom. We elders have lived through a lot of situations and conditions. Events occurred, thoughts emerged in that context and results followed. Whether those results are condemned to happen forever in the future with similar contexts remains to be seen. They are not facts for the future, only of the past. So much change affects the results. We can only recall the context. We can only remember what we did because of the context. We really don’t know if any of this applies to current situations and need for action.

The one thing we can rely on, passage of time provides perspective. We know that problems appear large in the present; with time the size and value of the problem abates. We mourn the death of favored people in our lives. In time the positive memories of those people remain and are celebrated. The negatives and even the loss of them declines more and more. It is the positive that we retain and hold dear.

Accomplishments are much the same. Looking back, we see common threads and achievements. At the time they were happenstance and a miracle of good ideas and timing. Accidental, really. We didn’t know then what we know now. And yes, that context did happen to create behaviors and actions that produced good results. Not perfect, but good. With that experience, we could replicate future actions for similar success. We could predict the good outcomes.

Not back then, however. We hoped, prayed and risked a lot to progress through the circumstances. We stuck to it. We created new ideas and actions on the spot. Most of the time that is what we do. We can plan and hope, but it is the unfolding of reality that proves the success or failure.

Passage of time. it exists. Does it contain reliable lessons? Or mere hoped for intentions? Still, can we learn from the outcomes and push for future similar outcomes?

Again, we hope. The granddaughter’s wedding is not yet a fact. Indeed, there is no relationship or engagement yet. The age-old process remains to be lived. And, one day, this too will be a memory.

July 15, 2024

 

 

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