Time

Walking around the pond I see a father and son fishing; no words being spoken while so much is being said. Leaning against the trunk of a large shade tree, a teenage girl intently watches a daffodil as she sketches the exact details in order to take the beauty of the flower home without removing it. My friend Mother Earth would be proud. Up ahead on the path, a mother picking blackberries from a bush not far from her home in order to pair with the vanilla custard her family will enjoy once finished with the delicious dinner she worked hard to prepare. A sweet treat that will allow the conversation to linger after dinner is done. Continuing my stroll, a girl on her dandy horse rides home happily as the two wheeled transportation speeds up her journey that was once on foot. The invention allows her to take in a breeze like she has never felt before and with gratitude she relishes the experience. Everything is operating like a fine tuned clock.

Being highly regarded, I have reached a place in my centuries of work where I can take a rest. Using the peace to make the days longer and spending the serenity of time with one another is the secret to a fulfilled life. After all, I give and give, until there is nothing left, for I am Father Time. 

A thought drags me down from my optimistic peak. People aren’t the most trustworthy as a whole, greed and gluttony always surfacing ruining my hard work. In my position I have a great understanding of inventions and how all things present, past, and future evolve. The timeline of inventions greatly aligns with the duties of my role. However, people are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated and are consistently unpredictable. Their securities or insecurities motivates their actions which greatly affects my job. Before making my decision I need to see what the future holds. Setting my clock forward two centuries, preparing to enter a world of smartphones and gas guzzling vehicles, I set out to see if I am treasured there as I am here.

***

The future is a rapid place where people, animals, and machines zoom past me invading my thoughts. Standing up from a bench in front of a cathedral while listening to the church bells ring seven times, I hear a lady call out,  " father it's time.” For a second I think I have been noticed, but I quickly see she isn't speaking to me. A woman on a cellphone speaks loudly not concerned with her child stepping on flowers that were intentionally planted. He hops in and out of the street unaware of the danger from the SUV speeding down the path. 

I quickly shout to the lady and say, "Ma'am your son!"

Turning to look at me, irritated by my interruption, she snarks, "Are you talking to me? What?" Holding the device away from her ear as the other person continues rambling to no one.

"I was worried about the boy getting hit by the SUV."

"He’s fine. He knows how to get out of the way." 

"I'm sure it can be a challenge to talk on the phone and watch your kid with all the traffic, I was trying to help" I say.

"It is 2019, I don't need your opinion about how to live my life. You are wasting my time!"

With that she turns to walk down the street while the child continues his disrespect and oblivion from unwatched eyes. 

A man rushes towards me from the opposite direction and bumps into my shoulder, and shouts, " I've got places to be! Walk faster!"

Shocked, I begin to wonder about everyone’s hustle while going through life. With all the time I have given them their disgust of peace infuriates me. Are they wanting more time, so they can fill every minute of that too? If I did give them another hour in the day their lives are so packed that it would be scheduled with meetings before it could be added to the clock.

I see another example of the overscheduled people when my eye catches, a child old enough to tie his shoes sitting in the grass while his mother is pulling the string through the loop finishing the bow.

"Mom, people laugh at me because I don't know how to tie my shoes. It's embarrassing."

"Look kid, we don't have time for that right now, hurry up we have got to get to ball practice and I can't be late for my meeting"

An exhausted mother with a defeated kid gets up charging at full speed to the next place on their daily agenda. No time for questions they have somewhere to be. Seeing time literally flying by I note nothing will slow down until death.

As the bright sky gets dark, I peer into a bay window of an apartment complex on the ground floor I see  a little girl watching a show eating dinner from a sealed package that has been sloppily opened. Once the show ends another immediately follows. Then another and another. Keeping up with my clock I see we have been watching this show for two hours and no one has come to check on her. The little girl’s eyes are as heavy as the moon in the sky while her bed waits for its purpose to be filled. The show started with a click of a button, but with no definitive end it’s like she’s trapped in a trance not able to look away.

On the bustling street insignificant people carelessly spout comments that add fuel to my anger: “There aren’t enough hours in the day”, “Time waits for no one”, “ Life is but a race against time”. This is how they think of me? 

Seeing enough of how the future views me, it's time I return to the present. It is clear that I will never be able to take a break, but I guess I knew that when I was given the job. Settling into my home I pour a cup of tea for myself and my friend Mother Earth.

" How did your trip go, Father Time?" Mother Earth asks.

" I am not pleased with my future perception."

" Was it really that bad?"

"Just wait, things aren't going well for you either."

"I know, time will tell" she says with a giggle.

" I give them everything I can and there is no appreciation. You should have seen how they thought of me."

"What are you going to do?"

“Two centuries gives me plenty of time to make a plan and I carry this scythe for a reason. The future needs a pause and a reminder of my worth. Yes, 2020 will be a year to remember."