As we grow older time seems to fly faster and that can be partially attributed to the law of ratios. At the age of 10, one additional year represents 10% of one's life whereas at the age of 50, one additional year represents 2% of the years previously lived and that percentage dwindles as one gets older.
Many other factors contribute to the apparently faster speed of time and, I hasten to add, these factors are not explainable by Einstein's Special Relativity Theory!
This note, however, is not meant to address the reasons behind the previously mentioned apparent faster speed of time but rather what happens to the time in between the years especially in as far as human contact is concerned.
As time elapses our contact with those who may have been very close to us like our parents, siblings, relatives, school friends, etc., with whom once upon a time we may have had daily contact, starts to diminish with time to the point that sometimes we lose contact with some of them!
It is often the case that we may only once in a long while see or talk to those who were once very close to us. It is interesting that, in some of these cases, in our mind, the time in between seems to have been in suspended animation such that when we reunite we can almost continue old conversations without any hesitation as if the time had never elapsed! This is in sharp contrast to the "flying time" concept!
Fortunately our ability to stitch the ending of a period of contact to the beginning of the next period of encounter (in other words the time in between) with a close person buffers us from some of the realities that otherwise we would have to process, digest and contend with. Imagine, as time passes, and with our expanding circle of contacts, if we had to stay in touch with all the old and new friends on a daily basis how much time we would have left for dealing with our lives! Needless to say what repercussions this would have on our anxiety level!
Social networks are now offering us a medium for shortening the afore mentioned "time in between", however, if not managed properly, it can lead us to suffer from elevated anxiety.
I like to conclude this note with the following words by Aesop (620-560 BCE): "A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."
Hani Badawi
July 17, 2016
Many other factors contribute to the apparently faster speed of time and, I hasten to add, these factors are not explainable by Einstein's Special Relativity Theory!
This note, however, is not meant to address the reasons behind the previously mentioned apparent faster speed of time but rather what happens to the time in between the years especially in as far as human contact is concerned.
As time elapses our contact with those who may have been very close to us like our parents, siblings, relatives, school friends, etc., with whom once upon a time we may have had daily contact, starts to diminish with time to the point that sometimes we lose contact with some of them!
It is often the case that we may only once in a long while see or talk to those who were once very close to us. It is interesting that, in some of these cases, in our mind, the time in between seems to have been in suspended animation such that when we reunite we can almost continue old conversations without any hesitation as if the time had never elapsed! This is in sharp contrast to the "flying time" concept!
Fortunately our ability to stitch the ending of a period of contact to the beginning of the next period of encounter (in other words the time in between) with a close person buffers us from some of the realities that otherwise we would have to process, digest and contend with. Imagine, as time passes, and with our expanding circle of contacts, if we had to stay in touch with all the old and new friends on a daily basis how much time we would have left for dealing with our lives! Needless to say what repercussions this would have on our anxiety level!
Social networks are now offering us a medium for shortening the afore mentioned "time in between", however, if not managed properly, it can lead us to suffer from elevated anxiety.
I like to conclude this note with the following words by Aesop (620-560 BCE): "A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."
Hani Badawi
July 17, 2016
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