The past, present and future

As a person’s age increases, it brings along with it a reminder that one cannot underestimate the importance of making good use of time.

As a witty person remarked, “Does thou love life? Then do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.” If you don’t believe how important time is, ask an editor of a weekly magazine the importance of 1 week, or ask P T Usha the importance of one-hundredth of a second in a race. Time is indeed a precious requisite which one should never take for granted as time lost is lost forever with no hope of retrieval.

Some youngsters with no maturity unwisely squander time thinking that they need not use it judiciously since they have a lifetime of time at their disposal. How sheepish they feel when they foolishly realise that time used erratically is not a wise proposition.

Out of the three phases, yesterday, today and tomorrow, the present is without debate the most important. Yesterday, with its frills and frivolities in vibrant and vivid flashbacks is over and nothing in our abilities can bring it back. When historians are questioned why they pore so much time over the past, they reiterate that “not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.” Past mistakes help us to prevent making the same mistakes again.

The present is the most important parameter for it is the only time, which we have direct control over. The present time can be used either positively or negatively by the way one thinks and behaves. Using the present judiciously implies making use of opportunities which would otherwise result in missed chances. The present no doubt is vital, yet it would not be judicious for one to spend it dreaming dazedly and fantasising about the future in an impractical way. Building dreamy castles in the air is many a time an impractical measure unless it is backed by a focused and determined goal-instilled plan.

The gist of the article is that evidently the focus should be on one’s present. Indeed, a wise person reiterated, “You definitely cannot forget your past. At the same time, don’t waste a perfectly good present by thinking too much about the future.” Indeed, the present is God’s greatest gift – no wonder it is called the ‘present’!