Different

Did you ever stop to think

how the world might be different

if the people who designed

some of the amazing things

we take for granted had done so

in completely different ways?

Take time, for instance,

instead of letting it always take you.

What if our calendars and clocks,

were attuned to the solar system

rather than atomically rhythmic?

What if the hands on our watches

sped up and slowed down

to match both the seasons

and our particular location

on the planet, leaving us

with forever-flexing hours, but

completely predictable tides and moons?

A man in Alaska during the summer

would shake his auto-winder

or try to replace his digital batteries

as drudging, hourly-paid labor

seemed to be frozen.

A woman in Argentina's winter

would wonder where the time flew

as she tried to accomplish

her daily to-do list.

But maybe that's our experience

anyway, as our focus

and perspective wax and wane.

Perhaps it’s our enslavement

to metered predictability

that stands between our hearts

and the surprising path

to unpredictable joy.

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

© 2014 Todd Jenkins