Good morning,
If we were to construct a building with the sole job of managing your towns time then you would have a great deal of difficulty making something that would be effective. In all likeliness, a few weeks following its construction, it would probably find itself on fire due to the madness of the work required inside.
Time, like a runaway train, will keep moving forward whether you are sitting in the front carriage or sleeping in the back. The story of King Canute trying to stop the tide comes to mind when thinking about managing an ethereal and powerful thing such as time.
Now Mr Canute, after trying to stop the tide and getting his feet mightily wet, decided to remove his kingly crown, hang it on a crucifix and never wear it again in honour of ‘Almighty God’.
Now in a similar situation, we would certainly have to give up our respective crowns every single time we tried to control something as comparatively powerful – like time for example. If you followed this logic then I predict after a week of missed appointments, shelved plans and extended deadlines, you will have given away most of your valued possessions. Now I would be interested in your opinion on this, but I would very much question my ability, personally, to make any progress without my car, house, clothes or laptop – all of which would have been given away if I decided to follow King Canute’s lead.
If I could go back to around 1015 and have a nice little chat with Canutee-boy (yes I may have been the first person in history to call him that) then I would strongly advise that when the water starts lapping at his toes, he would probably find much greater joy by stepping forward, soaking his feet completely and playing some splashy with his knights, courtiers and bannermen.
Only afterwards, while covered in nice fluffy towels would I say that trying to control something as untamable as the tide is fruitless and will only ever leave you with wet feet and hurt pride.
Why tell you this story? Well like the tide, time will continue to roll on without the need for our help or management. Trying to control the time in your life tends to only lead to, paradoxically, the feeling of having less time available for us to take advantage of.
The only thing we can really do is get into the swill of time and splash around a little bit. We won’t be able to make any real change to the way time moves forward as the days turn to night, but we can impact things on a personal level by putting things in place that help us become more in control of our actions. Through these actions and better decision making, the choices we make in our days can lead to great things in the future.
Oh, and if you ever feel stupid or can’t sleep because you are reliving an embarrassing memory, just remember that once the most powerful man in all England, Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden got his feet wet because he thought he could control the sea.
Yours sincerely,
Ryan Rose-Blanc
Rose-Blanc Town management
Atowncalledme 