ESTIMATES
I am amazed at the statistics which come our way uninvited these days.
This past week, I heard a talking head interrupt his own freely flowing verbal listing of his reasons about the many things – what, when and where - which went wrong, and caused 9-11 to happen.
I suppose it, in his mind, at least, his words had something to do with the subject at hand because he paused long enough in his list of reasons concerning the causes of 9-11, to speak an aside, and, then to quickly repeat it when his panel associates did not seem to respond alertly enough to his statement which noted our relationship to eternity. “In relation to eternity,” I'm sure he said, “the average length of a human life totals about seven minutes.”
Just how he had arranged to have eternity to stand still long enough between it's unknown beginning and indefinite end, he did not not say.
Nor did he clarify exactly what strange system of math he used to arrive at his sensationally short seven minute life span for Man. minute. It would seem the element of time would be flexible since eternity, as such, must continue without end. That makes his statement invalid and of little use for any worthwhile purpose.
Where do we find these intellectual crackpots?
How can I trust any of his observations about any subject after he dishes up such fare as that? How many more of “them” are running around loose out there, awaiting their turn to contribute to television's tedious trail of trivia?
I find it easy enough to totally forget anything he might have said about the causes of 9-11, but that bit about man's seven minute life span has followed me around ever since he dropped it within my range of hearing.
The concept solves so many of life's problems, doesn't it? How about all those things we started and never quite finished? There must be a score of times when we would have done so-and- so, had we had enough free time! Think what a fine excuse we now have for ourselves. We don't have to start things if we know we will only be around for seven minutes or less ...because with eternity advancing the span is being shortened all the time. Why bother about anything? Now, even tomorrow, is too late..
I think many of us can agree with the fact, that in the Creator's eye we appear as small things. Certainly we are minuscule in relation to the proportions of other objects made, but to think we are of such little consequence in his overall plan is asking too much.
Seven minutes! That's about the total length of actual program time on television between every-growing blocks of commercials.
A.L.M. March 25. 2004 [c429wds] .
