102 seems like a long time
Between last night and today I did an accidental tribute run. Pasquale, Donato, Maria, Philomena, Giusepina, Giovanni, Elena, Alberto, Giorgio, Elisabetta, Francesco, Giachino, Anna, Charles. This is my grandmother and her brothers and sisters. At 102 years old my Aunt Helen (real name Elena) was put on morphine today, due to unsteady breathing. I have to leave to go back to work tomorrow no matter what happens. When she is gone, there will only be three left, and my grandmother will be the oldest sister for the first time in her 97 years. But I did 3.5 miles last night, and 6.7 miles this afternoon, or 10.2 miles. 102, that’s the number of the day.
Since 1913 a lot has happened. We like to think of things as a series of events, First World War, Second, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, so many skirmishes here and there. They’re all one thing. Basically, the world has been at war, the same basic people, for the same basic reasons (making money) for slightly less time than Aunt Helen has been around. Humanity had first flown 10 years before she was born (doesn’t matter if you think the first flight was in Kittyhawk, NC or Bridgeport, CT yes there is a controversy there). Yet she was only 56 years old when man first landed on the moon.
It’s a very long span of time for a human. Through all the changes and struggles she’s seen it’s still nothing in scheme of the planet, the solar system, the galaxy, or the universe. While it’s nice to see people grow and learn and things change in the span of a human life. We need to stop thinking of time in the way we divide it up.While we have learned over the last few centuries that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. We still have all our systems set for Humans to be the center of the Universe, and it’s simply not true. That we look at the world, and what we can offer, and take, in terms of the span of our lifetime is what causes most of the problems and inequities of our society. It’s why we destroy the environment, hoard resources, look down on each other, look up to others, treat animals and nature as possessions. Putting ourselves at the center of our way of measuring time allows us to look at the world as something which serves us.
The world, the Universe, owes us nothing. It is not here to serve us. If not for our ability to make and use tools, it would have eaten us. We are here to serve the Universe, we are here to give what we can to it, not to take. Nothing is out there to save us, to make us better. We are here to make the Universe better, we are here to take care and be helpful, to discover and explore. That is all. When we view ourselves as better, as separate, like we are owed something from this Universe, then we are failing. When we fail in this manner, we delve into the madness which we find ourselves constantly surrounded. We think our world is getting worse, the reality is, it simply isn’t changing. We don’t do anything to change it. We do everything within the worldview of anthropocentrism. We look at everything as though we are the prime movers, or our “gods” are the prime movers. Either way, it is either us, or our agents, putting things in motion for our needs and our desires. Ever noticed the “Will of God” always coincides with the will of some, or all humanity? Because it’s merely us declaring supremacy over something we have no right to.
If we want to change our world, if we truly wish to change this condition, we must change how we see our place in the Universe. We must stop seeing ourselves as the center, and in that respect we need to stop measuring time in a way that suits us.
Some people will say, “But a second is now determined off the decay of a Cesium 133 atom, so it’s not based on Earth’s rotation.” But the reality is the cesium decay is .10 seconds less per day. We found the atom that decays at about the same rate as Earth’s general rotation around its axis and based everything off that. The arrogance is astounding. If we really want to change how things are, we truly have to change how we look at ourselves, and our world, and what our place in it is. If we keep looking at things the same way then we will continue to have the same results.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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