please take a moment to ..

picture this:

You are disoriented, shivering and you feel extremely uncomfortable. You are slowly walking through a pitch-black tunnel. It is not a happy place. You do not know how you got here, why you are here, or how you are going to get out of here. You just know that you want to be safe.

There is a click to your left. Two firm hands take your shoulders and shove you into a dim, dank room. It smells of metal and a strong cleaning liquid of some sort, one that you recognize but cannot place. The room has four walls and a simple tiled floor. The only heat and light source shines from a single incandescent light bulb screwed into a ceiling socket. It is barely on, a thought runs through your mind that it might almost be dead. It gives you an uneasy feeling, as if you can relate. You take a glance around you. The floor feels solid under your feet. You take a step forward. There is a faint buzz and suddenly the entire room is engulfed in a blinding white flash, and what seems to be thousands of ticking clocks are exposed. The sound is deafening. Each clock is set to a different time. The monster of a grandfather clock facing you on a diagonal is placed at 9:20. The analog on the shelf to your right reads 10:53. An old school alarm clock is defiantely sporting a '2:51'. There are no windows. Your head swivels around to glance at each clock. They all have a glaze, as if they've been polished with a dirty rag. Taking a closer look at a few clocks on the walls, you find that they are firmly bolted in place. In an attempt to relocate a large coffee table slash clock, you also find that it is secure. There has to be at least three hundred clocks and watches and time-tellers crammed into this single room. There is barely enough room for you to sit down in the dead center of the room, yet you can easily manouver through the spaces inbetween the clocks. 8:42. 1:03. 3:16. Time seemed to be of the essence, the seconds were slipping by, the minutes passing.

You took a minute to think to yourself. Where do the seconds go after they have fulfilled their purpose? Each moment of time is lived, then discarded. As far as we know, it's impossible to go back in time and relive or recapture or fix our mistakes. The time is just passing by, like a friend in the neighborhood or a carefree butterfly on a drowsy summer day. As you inch through the rows of clocks, you spot an hour-glass precariously hiding behind a shelf. Examining it closer, you notice that it has not been dusted or polished in what seems to be years. There is a thick layer of grime covering it's surface. You try to unveil the glass, but you just end up smearing the dirt around. The suspense is killing you. Is there any sand at all trapped within the glass? Is it at the bottom? Stuck at the top? Filled completely? How much time is left? Has time stopped?

You take a strong hold of one end of the hour-glass and swiftly turn it around. In an instant, one blink of an eye, the ticking stops. Your heartbeat seems to stop with it. There is a voice...


'Take all time into extreme consideration. You do not know how much of it you have left to spend. Enjoy every second of life that you can to it's fullest extent. Always breathe deeply and let the ones you love know how much you love them. Use these moments, these precious moments, to smile. Laugh. Learn as much as you can. Never lose sight of what is important to you. This moment could be your last.'