What does the idea of "Tempus Fugit" mean to you?

Tempus Fugit: The expression was first used in the verse Georgica written by Roman poet Virgil: Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus, which means, "But it flees in the meantime: irretrievable time flees." (Wikipedia). Two thousand years have past and sadly, no one has yet learned to retrieve time. As one grows older, the law of supply and demand enforces an increased value for time. Time is to the elderly as money is to youth. Time is a precious and scare resource that one values and seeks and that becomes more important later in life than when you are young. Yet, where money can be retrieved, time cannot. I can lose a fortune but if I waste ten years of my life, I can never recover the spent time. Who would not want to find the Fountain of Youth?

Time flies and flies and flies and ever I wish I could just “stop” the clock. Stopping the clock is possible on game shows and in some sports. However, we do have those special moments when time seems to stand still. When we are truly engaged in something or someone, time may not seem to be present in our lives. Like a hummingbird, time can hover in one place but only for short sequences. Inevitably the clock starts to move again and we return to the world of time and money.

As you go through the day, try to reflect on the Latin phase “tempus fugit” and see how and when your time flies. There is a value in truly treasuring the moments of our lives. Sometimes we seem to be trying to make time fly faster than it does. Are you in a hurry to get home, to go on that date, to get some job or chore done? In such cases, we can’t stand to see time standing still. We want tomorrow to happen today. It does not matter then that time flies. Where will your time fly today? Where would you rather have it linger like the hummingbird? Do you take enough time in the day to just let it hover for awhile? What would your life be like if you had more hover time and less “tempus fugit?”