Letter From The Editor: Seasons, Time, & Missed Opportunities
– By James McFadden –
If there is one thing we all learn as we get older, it’s that time is not always on our side, no matter what Mick Jagger says.
Let’s put things into perspective for a moment… It’s been three years since the COVID shutdown… Yea, three years. And how does this one sit… It’s been 22 years since the first Harry Potter movie was released, and the Simpsons have now been running for just over 33 years.
Time is relentless and doesn’t wait for anyone to catch up. If you fall behind on anything, well, there is no pause button or anyone to hold your place in line.
So, now that I’ve gotten the bleak side of my thoughts out of the way let’s focus on what really matters.
How many of us have had a prompting to do something, and we think to ourselves, I should really do that? Maybe I’ll have time next Thursday. Yea, I’ll try to do that next Thursday.
Well, Thursday comes and goes, and before you know it, five or six Thursdays have now passed you by, and the reason you felt prompted in the first place has long since been buried by other things that need your time and attention. Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is put what you’re doing down and focus on those promptings.
I don’t know about you, but this has been my number one challenge since the COVID shutdown. There are so many things I know I should be doing and that I truly want to be doing, but for some unknown reason, I just can’t seem to muster up the gumption to get my motivation back on. But for me, I hope, writing this is going to be part of the process I put myself through to get back to getting on.
There was a time when I was quite active in our community. I loved being a part of so many great things, and I still feel like that should be a big part of my life. Maybe it’s my age. In just a couple of years, I’ll hit 60, and while I hope I have another good 20 years to go, statistically, I don’t. And quite frankly, neither do you.
Life is a gift, and it’s often fleeting. There are so many good things we could be engaged in. So many opportunities to serve one another and to grow as humans. It’s what I want to be doing; it’s what I feel we should all be doing. Baby steps, as they say… I hope these words are not just ink on paper, not for me or for you. For me, it’s an acknowledgment that it’s time to get back to doing it. Ecclesiastes 3…
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James, I too want to get back to pre-covid social and charitable activities but am held back by many of the things you reference. The fact that we and many of our friends find ourselves sick because of a variety of viruses, not covid, that are out there ready to get us particularly because we are older makes it challenging. It will be nice when I feel comfortable being inside with people again, but until then I’m keeping most of my activities outside. The Farmers Market and other outdoor venues are great places to still enjoy being with people.