Has it really been five months since I last blogged in this space? The calendar says yes and it never lies. This brings me to today’s post: how time flies. We’re already at the last day of February – this being the 29th – and the year of 2024 is approximately 17 percent over. One wonders how many new year’s resolutions have been broken not only by me, but by everyone. I used to wonder how my parents could remember conversations from twenty years ago but now I understand because I can do it to. The passage of time may have slightly altered the wording but the majority of the conversations remain intact in my mind.
So, why does time seem to go faster as you age? The answer is simple: one year becomes a smaller percentage of your entire life. When you are five, one year is 20 percent of your life, but when you are fifty, one year is only two percent of your lifespan thus far. Hence, time seems to move faster and will continue to do so as you age. Forty years ago was 1984 and I remember it well. I remember the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles like they were, to use a cliche, yesterday, and paying particular attention to the men’s marathon because at the time, I was training for one. Carlos Lopes of Portugal won it in under two hours and ten minutes – a remarkable for achievement for a 37-year-old man. When I realize 1994 was thirty years ago, I shudder at how quickly it has gone. Did I really move out of my adopted hometown thirty years ago? Yes, even though the memory is clear as a bell, it was thirty years ago. Hard to believe but true.
Closer to home, has it really been nearly four years since I, like many others, was downsized during the COVID-19 pandemic? It sure has and tonight, speaking of calendars and the march of time, we mark the end of another month and tomorrow begins a new one. What will fill the and nights remains to be seen but I, like others, want to make each day special and memorable.
John Berkovich Talks 