Time—Into the Black Hole

There is a lyric to a popular song of about 40 years ago (Kodachrome) by Simon and Garfunkel that has been very offensive to me for decades. It’s interesting (and sometimes unfortunate) how some things get written on the tablet of one’s mind and they never go away; it just reminds you of the care that should be taken of what one chooses to hear or chooses to see, for some things seem to be indelible.  I repeat it now only because I think there may be a reader or two of my little missives who could benefit from my viewpoint. The lyric goes:

 “When I think back on all the crap I’ve learned in high school

   It’s a wonder I can think at all….”

I suppose that considering all the obscenity and vulgarity that was subsequently sold or listened to as ‘music’ in the following decades this could be considered by many as rather innocuous.  But I think otherwise. 

Here is the issue that I take with this lyric:  What about the person who initially bought into this notion—until it was too late to make up for the time they lost?

Consider the state of the dropout—intellectual or in person—who really believed that the subject matter—the curriculum, the skills of critical analysis and communication and living, or the lessons of history and art and literature taught in school were a waste of time and of no value.  Then consider the comparative state of those who at the same time took these things seriously.  Where, as a group, are they today?  Who, as a group, fill the prisons or the slums of our society?  Who, as a group, became the productive citizens and visionaries of our future?

We all, in school or in the larger arena of life, have the same amount of time and many of the same resources to use wisely or to squander. 

Another song—a simple song, a counterpoint—has these lyrics: 

“There are chances for work all around just now, opportunities right in our    way.  Do not let them pass by, saying ‘Sometime I’ll try,’ but go and do something today.  ‘Tis noble of man to work and to give; Love’s labor has merit alone.  Only he who does something helps others to live.  To God each good work will be known.”  (Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1985, p. 223)

Though most readers of this opinion piece are no longer in high school, and surely can think, most would acknowledge that many hours of every week go down the black hole of time-squandered. 

My plea for all of us is to take stock and use the time allotted to us to best advantage.   

•          “Doth thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that is the stuff life is made of."    (Benjamin Franklin)

•        “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

•        “This is life—and it is passing!  What are we waiting for?”  (Richard L. Evans)

•        Time and tide wait for no man. (English proverb)

•       “Make use of time, let not advantage slip.” (Shakespeare—Venus and Adonis)

•        “Nothing is more unworthy of a wise man, or ought to trouble him more, than to have allowed more time for trifling and useless things than they deserved.” (Plato)

•        “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity!” (Henry David Thoreau)