Just a Minute?

The clock is ticking, or timer beeping I should say. I had just put a bowl of chili in the home radiation device to warm for a “light” afternoon snack, walked down stairs grabbed my fleece and a pair of socks out of the dresser, walked back up stairs sat down, put the socks on when it happened. The timer alerted me to the fact that my food was finished being irradiated and was ready for consumption. I started thinking that I had just accomplished quite a bit in a minute, with out even really trying to. Also, I wondered just how long is a minute? Time in itself is an intriguing dimension, but I wont get into that, its already been over done. Instead, this short realization during my snack this afternoon has led me to a question, do we take advantage of a single minute? There is quite a bit that be accomplished in a minute, good and bad. We can accomplish nothing, which I would say in most circumstances is bad, but we can also travel several miles in minute, say “I do’s”, become a parent, become heart broken, invest heart felt words in another, cook macaroni (or chili), lose friends, watch two commercials, experience the pinnacle of a sunset or sunrise, write a poem and endless other things. In just a minute. Prior to the American Revolution there were a group of men that called themselves the minutemen. Men ready to fight at a minutes notice. During the civil war men were trained to fire three bullets a minute from a muzzle loading gun, a nine step process for each round, today thousands of bullets can be fired from a singe gun in a minute.
With modern science minutes have been divided in to incredibly small increments, millions of measurable moments. The speed of today’s world has allowed us to do much in a minute, however at the same time, pardon the pun, it seems a minute is not enough time for much of anything. You can’t go on a trip, prepare a meal (just cook it), listen to a song, or have a coffee. So, what should our goal in capturing and using the moments contained in a minute be? The challenge I choose for my self is to savor each moment and second with in minutes so as to enjoy life and not miss a single taste.