Limited Time Only
The article was written by Erma Bombeck, published in Reader's Digest. It appears to have come from NEWSDAY publication November 17, 1971. It was titled (I was going to, but...) 'There Wasn't Time'.
This is one of my memories from my purging of the clutter, the first line is: "Time. It hangs heavy for the bored,eludes the busy, flies by for the young, and runs out for the aged.
Time. We crave it. We curse it. We kill it. Is it a friend? Or an enemy?"
Peruse down a few paragraphs and the gist begins: "When I was young, Mama was going to read me a story and I was going to turn the pages and pretend I could read. But she had to wax the bathroom and there wasn't time."
Ms. Bombeck continues in this vein sifting through several memories of things people were going to do, 'but there wasn't time.'
It is reminiscent of the song, Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin. "My child arrived just the other day. He came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away. And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew. He'd say "I'm gonna be like you, dad""You know I'm gonna be like you"—
The themes in both are about how people get busy in their everyday lives. How caught up we become and how in the end we find that we've made a life, but we too often didn't have time to live.
The end of Cats in the Cradle is: "I've long since retired and my son's moved away. I called him up just the other day. I said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind. He said, I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time. You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kids have the flu. But it's sure nice talking to you, dad. It's been sure nice talking to you. And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me. He'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me."
We all know it's true. We know we would or should spend more time with our family, but how can we? There are so many things and people we should take time for, but bills need paid and life costs money now days. We just don't...have...time.
Ms. Bombeck's piece ends with: "When I grew up and left home to be married, I was going to sit down with Mom and Dad and tell them I loved them and would miss them. But Hank (he was our best man and a real clown) was honking the horn in front of the house so there wasn't time."
It's easy to condemn someone else for falling short. For not getting the things that are important done. In the song the father didn't take time for his son, and the son grew up just like the father.
We aren't told if the son had learned anything from his relationship with his father. If perhaps he had changed the relationship with his own son. One can only hope.
Erma Bombeck was known as a writer who was witty and who could point out life often in a humorous manner. Yet, as in this instance, she could also use her wit in a not so funny manner.
A few weeks ago, in chatting with a young man I told him my observation about life. Well, at least one of my observations. It goes somewhat like this: Life has a way of making cowards of us all. As we look back most all of us can see the 'could have, should have, wish I would have' dones in this life. Be it a word spoken or a word that should have remained unspoken, or a deed that should have been done, or left undone, some kindness that we didn't do, but should have.
