Sunday, March 14, 2010

Blogger Manifesto Project: Manifesto #3

My name is Ana. Tara has asked for my manifesto. There are so many ideas and things I'm obsessed with; so many declarations I could have made. But here is the one that made it - the one that is most important to me. A manifesto on time. Care to spend a few minutes of yours with it?

Time is perception. It flies, it grinds, in very long work meetings it feels like it has suspended itself completely, trapping you like a fly in amber.

Time is always measured. Seconds, hours, days, months, and years. It is a framework for our lives in which our language is even divided into past, present and future tenses. When you are stranded without a means of telling time, it makes you feel uncomfortable and uneasy. It can even amount to torture. The measurement of time anchors you to your life.



Time can obsess people. The anticipation of it, the keeping of it, the passing of it. Some plan their time out very carefully with calendars, alarm clocks, lists and five year plans. Others resolutely turn their backs on this and drift on by, declaring they have no mission and no ambition, that they are just content to see what comes. Both both approaches spring from the same source - the realisation that we do not have much time (therefore we need to plan it or as such we need to enjoy it while it lasts).



And isn't that the rub? That no matter what we think of time, no matter what we believe, we all know that time will only ever leave us behind.



And if we substitute the word "love" for "life", Yehuda Amichai still speaks true: Love is finished again, like a profitable citrus season or like an archeological dig that turned up from deep inside the earth turbulent things that wanted to be forgotten. Love is finished again. When a tall building is torn down and the debris cleared away, you stand there on the square empty lot, saying: What a small space that building stood on with all its many floors and people. (extract from Love is Finished Again by Yehuda Amichai )



Click on each picture for its source. For more, visit the Looking Into The Past Flickr Group and Elliot Malkin's Home Movie Reconstructions.

7 comments:

Seraph + Splendor said...

Great job Ana! We are very much enjoying the Blogger Manifesto Project! Could not let Monday go by without checking in on it...
S+S

sarafina said...

I am in love with this post and with the photographs. Maybe because I'm at a very transitional moment, this commentary on time and change seems that much more moving. Thanks for sharing!

paanie said...

the photos are absolutely phenomenal. i had to do a double take at first. what a great post to share.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful.

Greetz from Tiz said...

this is amazing!
Great great great!

Christina said...

ana has a such beautiful voice and a talent with words. i truly enjoyed her "manifesto." such an interesting series!

{Tara} said...

**For everyone who enjoyed this post, be sure and visit Ana's amazing blog for more goodies!
Thanks Ana!

S+S -- So glad you're enjoying it!
Anna has a great voice -- poetic and sincere.

Sarafina -- That makes sense...considering your big changes coming up. It's odd to leave and come back to places that were once a part of our past. Maybe that is how Tulsa will become for you...again.

xs -- So happy you stopped by. Ana always has a knack for taking [and sharing] great photos.

Adeline -- I agree...so happy Ana shared these.

Tiz -- Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed.

Chic -- I was also so happy she paricipated. She is a very talented writer.