Dr. Stephen Strange : I’m not ready.
The Ancient One : No one ever is. We don’t get to choose our time. Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered. Your time is short. You’d think after all this time, I’d be ready. But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand… just so that I can watch the snow.
This was one of the many scenes in the movie, Dr. Strange, that really struck me. TIME. The one thing so many people fail to recognize how fleeting it is, thinking they have so much ahead of them. To know that our “own time” has an expiry which is Death, how frightening would it be to realize even more the uncertainty of its arrival.
Oftentimes, we are caught up in the idea that we have so much time when we are still in our youth. We even set our timelines such as by 25 I should already be on my way to the corporate ladder, by 30s I should already be married, by 35 I should have 2 kids. And the list goes on. We think that because we are still young, death is far from sight and our time is unlimited.
However, the year 2020 has shattered this perspective. Every day we hear news of people everywhere, both young and old, succumb to death because of this outrageous pandemic. I have come to realize that no amount of wealth, success or fame could ever prevent death nor extend our time here on earth. Ask someone who is dying, and he will tell you the value of time.
To be aware that time is a limited resource will make us appreciative of what we have,big or small. We now then strive to give meaning on each moment while we are still able to breathe and be with our loved ones and not to waste a single opportunity that we are presented to make a difference in the world.
As Marcus Aurelius said in Meditations, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you say and think.” When you know that your time is limited, you wouldn’t want to waste a single part of it to unnecessary things. You begin to value each moment because there’s no pause and replay button. You will treat everyone with love and kindness, no room for anger or hate. Imagine the world with this kind of mindset. Imagine utopia.
I will never look time the same way again in 2021.