My best friend recently asked me to give her a quote or proverb on time. I proudly doled out a series of them, “Time heals”, “Time and tide wait for no man”, “A stitch in time saves nine”. And she retorted, “Can you give me something positive?” And that left me speechless. Every other proverb that crossed my mind from then on was largely negative. I found it strange. I googled a bit and didn’t find anything wholly satisfying. It didn’t bother me much then but it definitely lingered on in my head. When you’re having a rough patch, such things quickly seep back into focus and tend to eat into your thoughts more than you’d want them to.
The concept of time was one such thing that kept coming back to me. The more I thought about it, the more frustrating it was. A rather absurd measurement to live by. It seemed to have seamless power and control on everything. It had the power to decide. But most importantly, it never took responsibility for its deeds. It usually puts the onus on the person, the circumstance, the event. It forces you to move on, to forgive, to forget.
It’s either too soon.
Or too late.
Oh, it’s rarely a boon,
But it’s always fate.
Good timing is such a rarity that it almost appears to be a ‘miracle’. But it’s evil brother is such a constant that it clings on and never lets go. And yet, time shamelessly returns as this sadistic stranger with unparalleled grit and dangles before you a board that reads ‘Time heals’. Oh how conveniently it makes you think you’re the one who rushed a little too fast or missed it by just a few seconds. It whispers sweet lies into your ears to put you into deep slumber, giving you a glimmer of hope, only to see you wake back up and work through your nightmare.
A second chance,
Is all you can hope.
What can you do?
It’s the only way to cope.
Patience is the answer to this timeless mystery. It’s the only way you can play the game and reduce the pain. And it’s like a battle of Who Blinks First? where time gives in if you’ve stood your ground and haven’t fallen prey to its tricks of exhaustion. It unravels that sought after miracle, that light at the end of the tunnel, that blessing that’s bound to come your way. And without batting an eyelid, takes credit for it all by putting those glorious moments under labels of ‘good timing’ and ‘luck’.
But how long can it act so merciless?
Perhaps, it’s time for time to confess.
It can’t always be so heartless,
But then again, one can only guess.
Well, don’t let time have the last word. It’s main contenders are faith and prayer. But sometimes, or maybe more often than we’d like to believe, the three work in tandem where prayer tests faith and finally, faith needs to last the test of time. On this chessboard of sorts where time seems to command authority, maybe we’re forgetting the little but mighty thing called strength that can actually get you through it all. A strength that is so unshakable that it fails to be worn out by the sands of time and refuses to be lured by the calls of ‘coping’.
Maybe if we stay strong,
There’s little that’ll go wrong.
Maybe if we stay strong,
Life will be a happy song.
Ink and Paper 