Static: Time is only meaningful when measured through the change that is observed.In the movie Watchmen,Dr.Manhattan can see his past and the future.Aren't we all partly blessed with that power, by being able to see into our own pasts, real and imagined?
Humans observe the phenomenon of time only with noticeable change in events.With no change, time seems static,time seems meaningless.The ageless don't seem to age because they retain the quality of sameness with passing time.
Met an old friend recently.
It didn't seem like it was four years since we had last met.Surprisingly there was zero awkwardness between us, even though I was expecting some.
It is undeniable that we had changed a lot since we had last met,but not enough to push us away.The familiarity was akin to slipping into a well worn shoe;just as comfortable.
But at the same time we could not disregard the changes in us.Our physical changes were more apparent than the metaphysical ones.I had gained over six kilos since we last met.Our vertical growth had halted a long time ago, while we could not stop our horizontal growth, to quote an old joke about old age.
We weren't old,at least not old enough to stop watching cartoons or stop reading comics (graphic novels, I repeat they are not bloody comics, GRAPHIC NOVELS!).
I've been told, forty is the new thirty, and by that new dictum we were still in our teens, fifteen for the time being.But we had grown up, and our metabolisms were telling it to us.
Our metabolisms had slowed down and we had lost our boyishness and stepped into the roles of flabby men.
More so was another friend, who had grown obese over the years...so much that we both wondered how much time had passed since we last saw the now fat and pudgy friend as his former old slim tall self.
For us the transformation from slim to obese of our friend was the true measure of passed time, because how much we changed was a more meaningful measure of time than how long it took in seconds,hours,days,weeks or years.
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