On Hastening On

The days, they say, are hastening on. The Queen has reigned for seventy years, her Coronation a blink away. The golden city rebuilds, remaking its past into new shapes. So many of my friends awake to news of dire disease. Things which have been brewing for ages boil over as new facts. That’s the value of history: perhaps a different solution would work better next time.

Procrastination, one of my vices, may be one of the deadlier sins. It’s connected to consumption — of opinion, technology, media — all hastening on to disappear. We try to hold to present concern and it slips from our hands. Why need to know so much? Since our time is literally measured in heartbeats, how much do we follow our hearts?

Do we have time for resentment, anxiety, fear? Should we waste time on addictions and avoidance? Should we embrace the time? It flees as we reach out for it; it decides for us; it crumbles our solid illusions. Change is both constant and sudden. And so, long life to Her Majesty, who has given all her days. Our days are hastening on as foretold from our first breath. Do something simple today.