Transcending Time

In my previous post I talked about the different ways that you can experience time at Rhodes University. This got me thinking about how we as human beings experience time in relation to our emotional state. That reminded of an inscription in the park, Grosvenor Square, which is in Mayfair, London. In summer I would usually go and have lunch there as it is a beautiful park with statues and a gorgeous water feature. It is also located between the American and Canadian Embassies. It was for this reason that it was chosen as the resting place of a memorial garden dedicated to the victims of the September 11th attacks. In the centre of the garden there is circular inscription that says:

Time is too slow for those who wait,

Too swift for those who fear,

Too long for those who grieve,

Too short for those who rejoice

But for those who love...time is not

(Extract from "For Katrina's Sun-dial" by the American poet Henry Jackson Van Dyke.)

I think that it is a profound statement that sums up the nature of time to perfection. Time is nothing but the manner in which you perceive it. If you are waiting time is torturously slow. If you are afraid time seems to surge forward at a great speed. If you have lost a loved one time stands still but when you are happy the moments pass swiftly by. Van Dyke suggests that the only instance that time is timeless is for those who love. Love transcends time; it will live on and be remembered. This inscription had a great impact on me as it not only made me realise that all the lives lost on September 11th will transcend time as they were all loved by someone but it gave me comfort to think that no matter what happens in my life the people that I love and that love me will always be there because even through death time can not break the bond of love.