About Scales

I am very aware of time. Time passes. Time, passes. Dylan Thomas brought that phrase so much meaning in his wonderful poetical drama ‘Under Milk Wood’ two simple words, repeated, signifying that long passing of the night. Time indeed passes. Sometimes, far too quickly, other times at an incredibly slow rate, or so it seems. We know, using the modern measurements, that the time scale we use today, is no different to the time scale we worked and played under as a child. It just seems that way. I know as a child (as you have seen throughout my blog during this past year), I have spent many hours thinking (thinking why am I the one to get in trouble again). And, many hours standing (standing in my room thinking, why am I the one to get in trouble again). And many, many moments waiting (waiting in my room, to see what my punishment would be getting for being the one to get into trouble again). As time passed me by. And it has. Many seconds, minutes, hours, days and yes, many, many years. Many years to make decisions, that also affected me over the years. I have taken some unusual paths during my lifetime. Making different choices. And the great thing about that is, time passes. You don’t go back. You go forward. You stand by your decisions. There are consequences to those decisions. And the amazing thing is, sometimes, it takes years before you find out the consequences.

For example, I was too lazy to properly learn a language. I have grown up in (as mentioned) countries where English is the dominant language, so I didn’t have to learn a language. My parents both came from English speaking backgrounds (Of course, my mother spoke the ‘Queens English’ my father spoke New Zealand English). I regret not learning a language. And having taken up certain travels, met very interesting people from other countries, I discover that I want to understand them more. The best way is to understand their language. So, now getting on in years (heck, in some countries I’m a senior citizen) I have since made several better efforts to learn a language, and am starting to get the idea.

But all of this relates to that underlying method by which we understand humanity. The most ‘human’ of our scales. Time. For this reason history to me is essential. Understanding history, in it’s many forms. Not just my history (as much fun as I have had in relating it as I hope you have had in reading it). But all history. We came from somewhere. And time will tell if we are going somewhere. At our current rate of ‘worldly’ consumption, of resources and social behaviours, I do truly wonder. But time is how we, as people, judge many, many things. Life. Relationships. Health. Success. We can look at these as single moments. But, we also look at these over ‘time’. ‘Time will tell’ is a classic comment of social awareness. And even if time does, it’s not time that does the telling.

(Continued tomorrow)