JJ MARKING TIME

To JJ on the occasion of his sixteenth birthday.


A birthday? What is it? A passage of time? What is time?


Time is a marking of events. It is a comparison of events. When we are one or two years old we know little of time.


As we get older we have more experience.I went to school one year. That first year seemed so long because I had never been to school. Then the second year and it too seemed long but as each year went on I felt different. Time was different, now things seemed to go by a little faster.


It goes by faster because we mark time. We compare things. How was this year to last? What can I do in the next twelve months?


Man has almost always marked time. By the sun and the moon and then by the shadow of the sun, then with water clocks and then mechanical clocks and now by electrically and, yes even atomic clocks. Man marks time very well.


In Chicago I mark time. I mark time by the seasons. The winter is followed by the spring, the spring by the summer and then the color of the leaves tell me yes another year has gone by. In Mexico this is not so obvious and so Mexicans mark time by other ways and yes this makes us a bit different but an interesting difference don’t you think JJ?


Now we are engaged in a great time change. Not only the change of a second, a day, a year but now we mark the change of a 100 years and not only a 100 years but the start now of 1000 years. We mark time.


Why do we mark time, to measure how tall we have become? How close we are to finishing school? How close we are to retirement? Are these good ways to mark time? I suppose there is no harm in doing them but how do we mark time so that it it helps us now?


What is a moment? What do I do with a moment? Is a moment

time? Or is it just that it ‘just is’?


We need to pay attention to the moment.

We want to be in the moment.

We want to appreciate the moment.

We want to not waste the moment.

We want to take advantage of the moment.

We want to feel the moment.


Why would we not do these things?


Ah because sometimes marking time gets in our way.


We think about yesterday and tomorrow and we mark time and if we mark time this way we can waste this time simply by marking the time and not doing something else?


What else?


Mark your breathing… listen o it.

Mark your heart. Listen to it.

Mark yourself. Listen to it.

Mark your thoughts of others.

Mark your feelings.

Mark when you are angry.

Mark when you are sad.

Mark when you feel hurt.

Mark when you feel scared.

Mark when you feel happy.

Mark when you are surprised by life.

Mark all of these not with time but with your interest in who JJ is.


Mark your parents.

Mark when they are angry.

Mark when they are sad.

Mark them with your interest.


Mark you friends.

Mark them with you interest.


Do indeed mark the past.

Mark the past with reflection.

Mark the past with understanding.

Mark the past so you will learn from it,

As it has marked you and it will always be with you.


Do indeed Mark the future.

Mark the future knowing that it comes from the past.

Mark the future knowing that it comes from this moment.

Mark and understand that you are already in the future and this line was only in the future at the beginning of this letter.


Mark well that this is not a birthday card.

Mark well that this is not even a letter.

Mark that this is read by you because it is formed by

electrical impulses dancing on your screen.

Mark that this is your new world.

Mark that time has changed because of this.


Above all mark that your time is now.

To use it wisely is to not mark time.

To use it wisely is to recognize the moment

What in this moment will you do?

To assure that you like yourself?


Happy Birthday JJ







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