Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Realize (the value of time)

This is a fantastic poem called Realize, author unknown. I first saw it hanging as a poster in my then girlfriend's room. This poem captured both the essence of time in the viewpoint of different people in their unique circumstances. Take this as the sequel of my previous post "Time slipping through my hands like sand".




Realize
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To realize the value of one year, ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week, ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute; ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize the value of one second, ask a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond, ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.

16 comments :

Sillyinvestor said...

So sad,

Only realised when u lose it.

One can actually realised the abundance of it ...

? No

la papillion said...

Hi SI,

You felt sad after reading this? I felt grateful actually. Grateful not because time will be gone in an instant but because during that short period of time, I get to spend it doing the things that I want with the people I love.

This beats having the eternity of time in your hands doing things you don't like with the people you don't care about.

Investopenly said...

LP : Thanks for sharing the poem.. very true...

Sillyinvestor said...

I dun feel sad reading it,

I feel sad for the writer who say loss as a mark for value

失去的永远最美

拥有的,也可以很美

不要等到失去了,才来惋惜。

TheFinance.sg said...

Hi LP,

The Poem reminds me of the time in army where my instructors always ask "Waiting for what??"

My army version:

To realize the value of one year, ask a soldier how he spent his NS days.

To realize the value of one month, ask the soldier counting down to his ORD date.

To realize the value of one week, ask the recruit who is waiting to book out.

To realize the value of one hour, ask the sleep deprived solder after a field camp.

To realize the value of one minute; ask a soldier trying to pass his 2.4km.

To realize the value of one second, ask the soldier when someone shouts grenade.

To realize the value of one millisecond, ask the soldier who misfire.

Createwealth8888 said...

Time is funny.

Some never enough

Some having too much. So sianz!

la papillion said...

Hi Richard,

Glad you like it!

la papillion said...

Hi SI,

Very true. We only lament when we don't have it, and we don't appreciate when we have it. It reminds me of another quote : if you don't have what you love, love what you have.

A simple quote to remind all of us to require what we have before we lose it :)

la papillion said...

Hi Derek,

Wah! Ultra impressed by your poem! I'm waiting to see who would top it up with a poem of his/her own, and didnt expect it to be you! Well done :D

You really really captured the essence of time by your apt examples!

la papillion said...

Hi bro8888,

Haha I seldom find pple who said they have too much time on their hands and nothing to do! Even when I'm free, I'm not really free... I'm too busy relaxing or enjoying myself or keeping company with others to feel that I've too much time.

Really a luxury to have excess time!

SS said...

Interestingly, time is the only resource that is non-convertible, non-negotiable and non-transferable.

Some have more (a longer life), some have less, but all consume it at the same pace.

LadyYouCanBeFree said...

How come the blogger community so emo lately. First, someone is seeking his soul, then happiness, now time... Cheer up ! It's Chinese New Year ! Gong xi Fa Cai :). Go buy some Toto, 12 million bucks !

la papillion said...

Hi SRSI,

Hmm, I think maybe we don't consume it at the same pace. Some consume it faster than others, can you imagine why? LOL

la papillion said...

Hi Lady,

Haha, cheers! Happy CNY to you as well! I think we affect each other moods as well, so when others are happy, you might see more happy postings! lol

Sillyinvestor said...

For the silver medalist who felt the value of milli-second,
Ask him to relive the 15 years of training,
He will say yes.

For the man who escaped accident in a second
Ask him to live his life differently;
He will say yes

For the lovers who can't wait for the hour to pass to meet,
Ask them what are they looking forward to,
They will say the next, and the next and the next meeting...

Ask the mother who would rather have her baby one month later,
Would she love her sickly baby forever more,
She would say: I do

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Can't help myself

la papillion said...

Hi SI,

Thanks for adding an extra dimension of meaning to the poem :) I'm glad the poem made you pause and reflect - and that's the ultimate aim of all artform, isn't it? :)

I also add in more :)

To realize the value of 5 years, ask those who elected the wrong party.

To realize the value of 10 yrs, ask someone who had HIV.

To realize the value of 50 yrs, ask a nation who is forced into independence by circumstances.