Where Did the Time Go?

An often heard phrase goes something like “where did the time go?” Another one says “Theolder you get the faster the time flies.” We marvel at this seeming fact in our lives and voice it in

many variations. I’ve been on this earth for eighty-two years and can verify that it happens.

Eighty-two years ago, 1942, and the United States had been in a state of war for about three

months. I can’t remember any of the details of the war but did sense the feeling of euphoria that

pervaded the country for a couple of years after the veterans returned home. It ended with the

spectacular event of atomic bombs exploding over two different Japanese cities. It finally

convinced them to surrender, and people started getting their lives back in order to live normal

lives.

Peace didn’t last long. Another war started, the Korean War. Fought on a smaller scale than the

previous one, it nevertheless sucked a lot of energy out of the nation. Nothing was solved since

Korea divided into two entities and is left in the still-existing state of war. At its beginning few

people even knew where Korea was on a map, but many gave their lives. Not many of us knew

where Vietnam was either, and there we were fighting an escalating war from which we finally

withdrew.

For me, fifteen U. S. presidents beginning with Franklin Roosevelt flew by so fast I never got a

chance to know them very well. Twelve North Dakota governors beginning with John Moses

came and went, regardless of any jokes about Moses. Other developments in my life have

occurred, such as marriage, family, work, computers, land travel, space travel, and so much more

that it’s pointless to try to name them all.

Since my life has passed by so quickly, I can easily imagine time-traveling to the previous

eighty-two years which lands me at 1860. Unfortunately southern states had begun seceding

from the Union, Abraham Lincoln won election to the presidency, and numerous clashes between

northern and southern armies occurred. But time goes on. Dakota Territory formed, the first

transcontinental railroad completed, westward movement began, statehood was approved, Henry

Ford built cars, and Teddy Roosevelt became the hero of the charge up San Juan Hill.

We roll over into the 20th century by watching the Wright Brothers making the first flight, our

entering the first world war, opening the Panama Canal, and suffering through a worldwide

influenza epidemic. Lindbergh made the first solo transatlantic flight, a severe drought coupled

with an economic depression struck, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote, and

the first minimum wage appeared at twenty-five cents an hour. In 1941, one big occurrence

overshadowed most of the news that year, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Just like that two lifetimes whistled by. To extend again, why not play with the idea of

considering one more lifetime, a third life, to show just how fast it went by. It began in 1778, andd

arn it, there’s another war, the Revolutionary War. But maybe it’s for the best since patriots

from thirteen states rose up against British rule and resulted in independence which our

forefathers melded into a republic. Did you know Yankee Doodle became the new republic

unofficial national anthem. Our Constitution was written and we chose George Washington for

our first president. We ratified the Bill of Rights. John Adams appeared as the second president

and we experienced a peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the other.

The first forty years of the 1800s saw Thomas Jefferson doubling the republic’s size with the

Louisiana Purchase. Then to figure out what he’d just done, sent Lewis and Clark on a mission to

find out. We fought the War of 1812 and Napoleon discovered just how big Russia was in the

wintertime. The Industrial Revolution started. The Erie Canal connected the Great Lakes to the

Atlantic Ocean.

The Oregon Trail became an outlet for western travelers, the 49ers arrived in California looking

for gold, Walt Whitman wrote “Leaves of Grass,” John Brown raided Harper’s Ferry, and

Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species.”

I’ve packed a lot into these past 246 years, three of my lifetimes. This has been a silly exercise to

play with, but time really does fly by. It’s possible to play the scenario all the way back to the

dinosaur age or maybe Adam and Eve. But it’s the business of theologians and scientists to tell us

about that.

The better way to reckon time might be to look forward into the future of our descendants lives.

A Greek proverb packs a powerful meaning: A society grows great when old men plant trees

whose shade they know they shall never sit in.