Waiting at lights, swearing at traffic while trying to get
to appointments on time, gives time to reflect on the uses of time. Time takes
up space. Time past, time future, time present take different meanings from the
space they fill.
Ancient
Romans liked time past. It’s filled with deeds. Time past could take up a lot
of space, because the ancestors lived there. Modern Americans like time future.
That’s where deeds reside. For ancients, though, the future belonged to the
gods. It might be better not to allow it too much space. Time could be juggled,
through lucky and unlucky days, festival time, calendar time that continually
lost time, water clocks and shady sundials. Now we have digital clocks and
atomic time.
Time for
some is eternal present. Therefore don’t swear at the traffic: this too is
living. Time is also status. One who waits is lowly. In some cultures, a couple
of hours late is good to impress high status. The space in time a person takes
up is the right of a social position. Impatience from a waiter would be folly.
The time of
the Eucharist is triple time: past, present and future brought together. A
Trinity.
