I gave up watches by accident. I broke my last Batman watch irreparably the third time I dropped it; I broke my cheap backup watch not twenty-four hours later. But I realized that I still had access to time: the clock on my cell phone, the clock on my computer, the clock on my desk phone, the clock on virtually every wall I turn toward, and the watches on the wrists of virtually everybody I've ever cared about. So I decided to try life without a watch for a while.
But now I'm back on the clock. My wife got tired of my asking her what time it was, and my never having a ready answer for her when she asked me. So she got me a watch for Christmas, which is fine, since if you're going to wear a watch, at least it should have the Bat-signal on it.
So, with all this talk of clocks, I figure it's high time for the second part of Robert Banks's prayer about time, taken (with permission) from his book The Tyranny of Time. See my earlier post for the beginning of this prayer; part three will post soon enough.
Too often we forget . . . and fail to appreciate your generosity:
we take time for granted and fail to thank you for it,
we view it as a commodity and ruthlessly exploit it,
we cram it too full or waste it, learn too little from the past
or mortgage it off in advance,
we refuse to give priority to those people and things
which should have chief claim upon our time.
Help us to view time more as you view it,
and to use it more as you intend:
to distinguish between what is central and what is peripheral,
between what is merely pressing and what is really important,
between what is our responsibility and what can be left to others,
between what is appropriate now and what will be more relevant later.
4 comments:
if you're going to wear a watch, at least it should have the Bat-signal on it.
So true, so true.
Alternatively, one might also wear a "Jimmy Olsen" watch which, when a special button is pressed, emits an ultra-high frequency which only Superman can hear.
I'm guessing that it all depends on whether you're a Batman-guy or a Superman-guy.
I'm not declaring my allegiance, or anything, btw.
Oh, nor am I, of course, although I will say that Batman has been known to kick Superman's butt on occasion, so in a pinch I'd call Batman. But that's me.
I can't believe I just wrote that.
By the way, Macon, sorry I missed you while I was in Dallas. Hope you had a good Christmas.
I'm a non-watch woman. Not that I don't keep a watchful eye. But I've gotten pretty creative about finding the time. Car clock. Cell phone clock. Alarm clock. Computer clock. Stove clock. Microwave clock. Coffee pot clock. Wall clock. Husband's cell phone clock. Yeah, he doesn't wear one either. And we still manage to make it through life...though probably not quite on time :).
I particularly like the coffee pot clock. I thought coffee and the clock were bitter enemies!
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