Borrowed Time

On Saturdays, when I bring the kids to karate, I have two hours to read the newspaper uninterrupted. With that kind of time, I read it slowly and carefully. It's the sort of activity that should be done in the quiet of one's home, with a cup of coffee. But I don't have a quiet home, not with three kids, at least it's not quiet during normal hours. And there are always interruptions. For example, it's now 10:29 AM on Sunday, and the two young children decided to start making a racket as I began this entry.

But I digress. On Saturday I read a review of a book by Robert Goddard called "Borrowed Time". I was completely taken by the story line. It begins when a hiker in Englad comes across a woman on the trail. She says to him, "Can any of us ever stop being what we are and become something else?" She invites him to walk with her but he declines; later she is killed and he regrets not going with her.

Here is the quote again, because it's terrific: "Can any of us ever stop being what we are and become something else?".

I think about this all the time. I often think about being something else. I find the prospect of being one thing scary and boring. Society today encourages being the same, so it takes effort to change. But I don't doubt that I can be something else. I just need to decide what I want to become. It's not easy because there are many interesting possibilities. But once I decide, I have no doubt that I will be able to change.