“Measuring Life,” thoughts by Daniel Holland
How to Measure
Life is measured by a watch and a ruler.
By the way, what time is it?
How to Measure
Life is measured by a watch and a ruler.
By the way, what time is it?
I’ve arrived in the Midwest now and am starting the work of making a new home for myself in St. Louis. My brother Gary Thompson flew out to visit me, fish with Daniel, and escort me back. We slept last night in the house we grew up in, where my father grew up, where he…
Perched on the end of faded green roughened seesaw. Roughened by sand poured over the board. I went up and down, then suddenly stopped. Stopped in midflight by a girl child turned woman. She said, “Here I am!” with her eyes. She made the sand feel solid.
A few summers ago Daniel and I went swimming in Clear Lake together…on the swimming beach at the Clear Lake State Park. I’m a strong swimmer and he’s more a dog paddler. When he ran into some water plants, he panicked and it felt as if he were having a heart attack. I swam towards…
Walking Over Water Stick falls off oak tree in winter’s bare delight. Thin stick over deep water, chilled water. “Courage!” I say to my bare tingly toes.
When the blister wants to come out, there’s no stopping it. Walk too much–the blister can come out. Use your hands a lot–the blister will come out. “Me, Blister, I will travel.” Sit down a lot and see what happens. The end.
VACUUM SUCKS You know those little things in the carpet that try to hide? When you vacuum “hide and seek” becomes “hide and suck.” If you have a cheap vacuum, vacuuming becomes a hockey game. The goalie is under the mat. The cheaper the vacuum, the bigger the mat. As a kid I used to…
Daniel, how should we measure life, do you think? If not by a watch and a ruler? If not by things that we can quantify, how should a person’s life be measured? I know you are poking fun at this way of looking at progress and achievement, but I’m curious about what you think.
Life is measured by some with watch and ruler…but by others it is measured perhaps by laughter, sunsets and ice cream cones.
Perhaps the best measure of life is losing track of measuring at all. Ya know, when you’re into whatever you’re into and hours have flown by with no watch or ruler needed.