TO THE LIVING!

Let’s put our damn phones down. And pay attention to what – and who – matters.

This Memorial Day weekend, before we give thanks for the ‘ultimate sacrifice’, lets take time to consider time, and how we spend it.

Time might be a continuum, but it’s also finite: No one gets out alive. Behave accordingly.

Our relationship with time can be contradictorily confusing: Not knowing how much time we have left, we’re told to ‘live in the moment’, while planning for the future, ‘living for some far-off moments’.

Which is why the greatest – and most challenging – learned trait is patience.

If patient, we learn from today’s experiences – reminding ourselves “there’s more to the story, we just don’t know what it is yet” -and what that means for the future, taking the requisite moment to step back and process.

You know, live for the moment, but don’t take it too seriously.

I can still hear my Mother’s soothing “everything for a reason”, attempting to help me deal with disappointment, have delivered the line to my own children, and through hard-learned patience, finally believe it.

Patience helps us fight the very human desire for “everything now”, which we saw as evil in Veruca Salt, but not always ourselves.

Unfortunately, patience is required to learn patience, making it the most challenging human trait.

But today, lets live ‘in the moment’, and not spend the afternoon writing a draft of our auto-obituary, consulting an actuarial chart to see if we should renew our magazine subscriptions, or borrowing money we don’t think we’ll ever pay back.

It’s said if we want to understand what we truly value, we should watch our feet to see where they go, what we do.

A work friend’s cautionary tale: After telling his boss ‘proudly’ he hadn’t taken a vacation in years, his boss responded “The only people who care about that are your family”.

But there are temptations tripping up our best-intentioned footwork.

None bigger than our smart phones.

If ancient man arrived and saw us with our phones, he’d assume it was some sort of God:

See how they worship the screen, never looking away;

They appear confused – the digital God said it’d be raining;

Wordle! Or cave drawings?

And how do I download the T-Rex recipes App?

We focus on our phones, convincing ourselves that something urgent might be missed, some social media post, some breaking news item, some text from a friend, some help with an expiring car warranty,…some…some… some.

The smart phone was launched in 2008. Eye contact went extinct in 2009.

Uninterrupted conversations shortly thereafter.

And a chunk of the world forgot their phone wasn’t the most important thing in the world – or their entire world.

Popular parenting advice is setting limits for kid’s screen time. How about if we gave ourselves the same limits? A small sacrifice…

And patiently observe what we do with our gift of time.

Because our kids won’t remember whether they won or lost, they’ll remember if you were at the game (and the treat); Our families won’t remember the call we took, just the conversation that followed “I’ll call them back”; Your friends and family will remember the times you spent together.

Our legacy defined by how we spent our time…

So put down your damn phone! Maybe even make eye contact.

And remember what – and who – is important.

If you have a loved one you haven’t told “I love you” in a while, say it now. Always say it now.

The perfect tribute to tomorrow’s honorees is to spend our time wisely. They never got the chance.

For 166 more posts like this –each with a wish for time well spent – go to beersatthenifty.com. Your phone will display every post, and you can waste an hour or two.

Or, at the site, leave a comment on this post, and then check the box that says “Please notify me of future posts” and you will be sent the newest Sunday update automatically.  

Easier yet, when you read a post, after 15 seconds you’ll be given the chance to become a subscriber: Life gets better and better!

Or just forward this to everyone you know. Forward it to those you aren’t fond of twice.

TO ENHANCE YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS POST, PAIR IT WITH THE FOLLOWING SONGS:

Jeffrey Lewis, worth checking out. He’s also a comic book artist – odd but true.

This song fits perfectly with today’s post.

Time Trades   Jeffrey Lewis

Time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
Time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
You gotta do something that you can get nicer at.
You gotta do something that you can get wiser at.
You better do something that you can get better at
’cause that’s the only thing that time will leave you with.
‘Cause time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
It might be cabaret.
it could be poetry.
It might be trying to make a new happy family.
It could be violin repair or chemistry.
But if it’s something that takes a lot of time that’s good.
‘Cause time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
Because your looks are gonna leave you.
And your cities gonna change too.
And your shoes are gonna wear through.
Yeah, time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that you can offer time a trade.
You gotta do something that you can get smarter at.
You gotta do something that you might just be a starter at.
You better do something that you can get better at.
‘Cause that’s the thing that time will leave you with.
And maybe that’s why they call a trade a trade,
like when they say that you should go and learn a trade.
The thing you do don’t have to be to learn a trade
just get something back from time for all it takes away.
It could be many things.
It could be anything.
It could be expertise in Middle-Eastern travelling.
Something to slowly sure to balance lifes unravelling.
You have no choice you have to pay times price,
but you can use the price to buy you something nice.
Something you can only buy with lots of time
so when you’re old, which you will, some whippersnappers mind.
It might be researching a book that takes you seven years.
A book that helps to make the path we take to freedom clear.
and when you’re done you see it started with a good idea.
One good idea could cost you thousands of your days,
but it’s just time you’d be spending anyways.
You have no choice, you have to pay times price
but you can use the price to buy you something nice.
So I’ve decided recently,
to try to trade more decently.