Time: Measure Your Moments in Miles
My grandfather was a watchmaker. He was skilled because he spent decades learning and practicing the precise art of watch repair. He disassembled, and diagnosed every kind of timepiece that came across his bench from pocket watches to the most expensive Rolexes, and reluctantly a cuckoo clock or two. He hated cuckoo clocks.
You might think that a guy surrounded by the constant
tick….
tick…
tick…
of dozens of clocks and watches would live a hurried existence.
Did he lament the loss of time with every tick, tick, tick?
I don’t believe he did.
My memories of my grandfather were ones of serene, tinkering while an old black and white tv, tuned to the wheel of fortune added its own clicks to his basement workshop. It seemed as though he made peace with time early in his career. Or maybe by being a craftsman, he realized that he had complete control over this synthetic measure of moments.
A half turn on a tiny screw here and time would speed up.
A small adjustment in the spring tension there and time would slow down.
As the watchmaker he had total control over the spacing of these clicks, the measure, and mark of the moments, but not…
