by Vince Capell, St. Joseph City Mgr.
I don’t recall when I first came to understand time. When was it that I first learned that there was a difference between the current moment and the moments that preceded or succeeded it? Understanding time must be innate, not learned, because I don’t recall my teachers ever instructing me that “This is now and that was then and tomorrow is later.” I do recall my elementary school teacher force feeding me the English language treatments for past, present and future tenses, but that’s not quite the same thing. For me, future-perfect tenses were anything but innate.
Nevertheless, by the time my bald little head was showing its first hair, the gooey mass of grey matter inside was already calibrating the differences between then and now, now and later, and before and after. A first cousin to time, cause-and-effect, is another progenitor that if not already present at birth, develops naturally and quickly. I am not a scientist, medical doctor or child development specialist so I am no authority on these subjects. All I know is that we grow up more-or-less automatically understanding where we are in time. And babies are cause-and-effect experts because they know intuitively that not eating causes hunger. When they haven’t eaten for a while, they get hungry and when they get hungry they know darn well where the food is and how to get it. But I will write about baby-level problem solving skills another day.
The concept of time, the relationship between cause-and-effect and another human quality, speech, must be hard-wired. “Speech? Hard-wired you say?” Yes! After all, babies don’t grow up sounding like refrigerators even though they are often exposed to their steady hum. And they don’t grow up barking like the family canine either. They grow up sounding like Uncle Ernie, as good or bad as that might be. Because time, cause-and-effect, and speech are such fundamental, automatic and mostly human traits, I can only surmise that they are hard-wired, essential and gifted to us for good reason.
So, what are these good reasons? Well, one presumes that good gifts are intended for good works, which is doubly true for those of us in public service. Whether elected, appointed or anointed, we in public service have a unique obligation to properly employ our gifts, which are freely and naturally granted to us. Understanding our place in time prompts us to lead, not pander. Appreciating cause-and-effect compels us to accept our obligations, not time forward them to our children. And speaking courageously about our challenges and opportunities overcomes those who lack vision and would enjoy walking us backward in time.