Skip to main content

Time, Tide and The Grim Reaper


Image credit here

A lot of people say that before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes.

Hogwash! I used to say... How can a person's whole life fit into the split seconds before his untimely demise?

But here's the thing about time - Einstein was right on the money when he said that time was relative.

This would mean that 'time' as we know it exists in different forms for different people, at different points of their lives.

Heavy... isn't it?

Let's take on a few examples to help illuminate this theory.

First, let us have a look at a college student who is hanging out with his friends at the local sports bar, having a few drinks, watching the Premiership game on a widescreen TV, and he has an test tomorrow. You can that for him every time he looks at the clock an hour would have passed without him realising it.

Next, let us have a look at someone who is stuck indoors on a beautiful summer's day, having to read up on Calculus because he has a Calculus exam next week. For him every second he spends indoors in front of his books is going to feel like hours. The clock just can't move fast enough. He reads a paragraph and completes and exercise, and thinks that 15 minutes have gone by. He looks at the clock and discovers that only 5 minutes have gone by.

Now compress that into the the moments you have before the angel of death comes calling, and you could possibly fit in your whole life into those milliseconds.

I hope my life story can be a good flash.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Time is concrete. But we can always manipulate it in our own humane ways. For instance, I used to teleport myself to the future and see myself, say, in 10 years' time. That way, I can always come back to the past and redo whatever I am supposed to redo.

"Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture and save it from the funny tricks of time" - ABBA.

:-)
April 8, 2010 at 7:27 PM
Lee said…
Hello Abdullah, love your eloquence and humour.
Very interesting posting....
allow me to add, Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a sexy, sarong kebaya, long haired lady for an hour, and it seems like a minute, That's Relativity, ha ha.

You have a nice day and keep well, best regards, Lee.
April 11, 2010 at 3:26 AM
Abdullah Mohd Nawi said…
Hilmi - I think if I had something like that I would be hitting the 'go back in time' button quite frequently..

Uncle Lee - Got the number for the sarong kebaya girl? ;) hehehe...
Thanks for dropping by, and I appreciate your comments!
April 11, 2010 at 3:55 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Help is always far away

Help is never far away. That is the old adage that has been drummed into us ever since we were young. No matter where you are, and what difficulty you are going through, someone will be close at hand to help. Except they aren't. Many a time no one in your vicinity gives a rat's ass. Or could be in a mess of their own to even think that someone else may need the support. Just that little bit of assurance to show that they care. Sometimes it can be in the smallest things. A kind word. A check up of how one is doing. Yet help does come. Someone takes the time to respond, in short messages, all the way from across the Pacific Ocean. Someone does take the time to relate, and share their own experiences, and offers words of comfort from across the country. Yes, help is at hand, but it is always far away. *picture credit here
Post a Comment
Read more

The Forbidden Kingdom No More

Yesterday is a day that would forever go down the sands of time as... "The Day I Fed Two Hundred Ravenous Mouths with Bottomless Pits" Oh the horror!... The Pain!... The Suffering!!! Like a swarm of locusts they came, wave upon wave upon wave... Like a farmer protecting his crop I could only look on and stare, as they darkened the sky, before zeroing in for the kill... Tears streamed down my eyes as I watched them strip every last grain of maize and corn that I had planted at the begininning of the year... My knees thudded to the ground, as I numbly watched the carnage around me, my tired brain barely registering what my eyes perceived. "So this is what it feels like"... I thought in my brain... "This thing called Open House" . .. ... Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I'm just being dramatic here ;) Yesterday was actually a day that I'm going to remember for a long time, simply because it was graced with the presence of those eager young minds I he...
36 comments
Read more

Premature Mid-Life Crisis?

"Sejak bila lu jadi mat rempit beb?" (Translation: Since when did you become a street racer?) Were the first words that blazed onto the screen of my Dopod PDA Phone when I told my cousin that I had bought a bike. I mean...Is it that strange that I happened to work my butt off, save up, and buy one of the meanest most beautiful bikes I ever set my eyes on? I mean...just look at it... Shiny jet black finish, laced with highlights of blazing red, topped with rugged racing streaks...  I think I just wiped a tear off my face... No, no, don't get all worked up... I haven't gone off the wall. It's just that with the increase in fuel price, it seems silly to spend RM600 just going to and from work every day... Think about it, that's a month and a half's pay for my maid! Just to get to and from work!  So, I figured this would be a good compromise - maybe 2 or 3 days a week going to work by bike, and going to the local stores, local eateries, and even the local mosq...
28 comments
Read more