147 A Tale of Two Minutes

Each minute's about 1/100,000th of a year, so about a millionth of your life expectancy.

You can do something important in just one minute; every minute is another chance to do something important.

That's over 600,000 chances to do something important, accounting for minutes asleep.

At the Pearly Gates, will St. Peter consult his book, tallying my important minutes compared to my total minutes lived? My Importance-to-Wasted ratio?

Depending on the importance of a thing, can only one minute mean more than squandered ones? A weighted score?

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”--Dickens, "A Tale of Two Cities"

My important minutes--am I behind? Could one important minute equal--salvation?

Invoking Einstein, gravity slows time. Marrying physical with metaphysical, not all minutes are created equal: SOME ARE HEAVIER.

I live in the best of times, not the worst. While Dickens sees this counterintuitive duality as life, I cruise. As each minute passess, I accrue interest and worth. Each millionth of my life portends well for my ever-continuing best-of-times. Even asleep.

Yet, it's self-serving, passive self-indulgence. Hardly gravitas.

At the Pearly Gates, realizing "You can't take it with you," all I'll have are the minutes I'd been given.

I'm oblivious to the gravitas unfolding side-by-side with me. I need only glance askew. What's gravitas, after all?

Gravity!

More gravitas makes--longer--my minutes. Life extension: time dilation.

It took only a minute signing those papers, time-dilating to a lifetime worth living. Divesting my fortune, I targeted poverty, ignorance, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy--even war.

It was a far, far better thing that I did, than I have ever done.

Hardly a blip on humanity! Some things are just important in the absolute. Gravitas. My defining minute stretched a lifetime.

As I close my eyes for the last time, I fear hearing, "It was hardly enough."

Hopefully, also, "You did what you could. You tried."

Redemption isn't just what you do for others; you also do it for yourself. A bonus.

And it was a far, far better rest that I would go to than I have ever known.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

"Ubi dubius, e flagellate" — ancient proverb.

For Sunday, May 26, Day 147 of the Story-a-Day Challenge.

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Title picture was AI-generated-hot, but the time is not!

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There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator

• Rachel Deeming

• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)

Watch them as they squirm and panic as their ideas require more mental effort to keep this insane thing going.