ALL ABOUT TIME Written by Arleen M. Kaptur
June 21st is longest day of year. The amount of daylight begins to diminish after this date. We may not even notice seconds that are added to darkness hours, but in time, an hour will be deleted from day and so forth. Time is really in mind. It is not something that you can grasp, touch, smell, or even see. You cannot hear time. Surely, ticking moments on a watch gives you some insight into how quickly days pass, but time, of itself, is not really anything. But time is so very important to each and every one of us. Our homelife, jobs, career obligations, children’s events, social engagements are all set for a specific time. You set an alarm clock to wake you and you go to sleep after 10 p.m. news. You eat lunch at noon and supper around 6. Your birthdays falls on a particular date in time and holidays roll around year after year. Stores carry calendars and time pieces by millions. Everyone has appointment books or desk diaries. We note special occasions and important dates to remember. Our days are set around a 24 hour, 30 or so day month, and 12 months in a year. We age, or so we think, by our calendars. Now, step out of realm of time and ask yourself what you would be doing right now if time did not exist. Would you be following a similar schedule or would you be freer to do what you want to do when you want to do it? Would you accomplish same amount of work or would you slack off because time is not of essence? Oh, doors that self-knowledge opens!! Of course, time will be with us as long as we live. We will have to abide by standards that world sets for certain dates, activities, and occurrences. However, there is a freedom that we take for granted - freedom of choice in what we do with time we are given. Will we make it a better world, or are we just biding our time? Do we plan on bringing beauty into our part of universe with music, art, and literature? Will we help as many as we can along way, or will we hurry by, checking our watches, so that we don’t miss a single “important” item on our agenda. Who decides what is important and what needs to be done? Who - you! Yes, you have ability to pick and choose, do or not do, and also decide priorities. If you are a business leader, do you have time for your employees? As a worker, do you have time to share insight and possibly new ways to do a determined task so that it would be easier and more pleasant for everyone? As a mother, father, daughter, son, grandmother, grandfather and so forth, do you set aside time to keep happy relationships in good repair or do you glide across mirror of years and figure things will take care of themselves? As a husband or wife, you make sure there is quality time for children, but do you sometimes forget meaningful time with each other?
| | Rules SchmoolzWritten by Julie Jordan Scott
A man, dressed in full Japanese garb from 19th Century (with a bit of an unusual twist) slowly walks to center stage. "Welcome to Melodrama Musical Theatre! Ready to hear our rules?" A collective groan fills North Bakersfield Theatre as audience plays along with a cast member from "The Mikado." He responds emphatically, saying, "Rules, Schmoolz!" People complain about following rules. As a second grade teacher, I instead of rules I used a list of simple guidelines. We reviewed these guidelines daily in beginning of year. If infractions were made, we simply pointed to guidelines. The kids knew what was expected (instead of focusing on what NOT to do). There were only 7 guidelines which were as diverse as "We keep our hands and feet to ourselves" all way to "We respect, honor and love one another." In my garden, I learn even more about fuzziness of rules. My front yard houses a flower garden. My backyard plays host to a wide array of vegetables in my mini-farm, vegetable garden. And never, never twain shall meet. Veggies, back, with other veggies. Flowers in front with only other flowers. Until Emma and Shauna, that is. One of my Coaches used to say, "You can't grow zucchini if you plant tomatoes!" That may be true in some yards. It is not true in mine! Emma and her friend spread some seeds they discovered without my knowledge. I kept wondering what those things were growing among roses. They did not look like any weed I had ever seen. And in fact, they were beginning to bear a striking resemblance to zucchini and cucumber which were,
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