Author’s Note: my continued analysis and coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War will resume next week. Thank you.
I really like the expression, “time is a flat circle.” Coined by Friedrich Nietzsche, it represents the idea of eternal recurrence – or put differently, that all events in the universe repeat themselves with no beginning or end. Putting aside the philosophical implications, I find it relatable because so much of our existence as human beings is repeating tasks.
Especially right now for me. With the return of cooler nights and more seasonable afternoons, the dog days of summer are slowly giving way to the first tastes of fall. This also means engaging in the cycle of course preparation for my three classes at SUNY Oneonta and finalizing my preliminary proposal for next year’s Village of Middleburgh Budget.
As much as I dislike rote routine because it can breed boredom and complacency, eternal recurrence can best be managed by pursuing improvement and taking on new challenges. There is hardly a lack of either opportunity with my careers, as there is always a new project to account for in an annual budget or a new lesson to teach every semester.
What really brought these thoughts to the foreground was a comment that my mother had made to me at Mrs. K’s Kitchen on Saturday morning. It was a frenzied morning for yours truly, as I was juggling Mayoral duties at the Little League Field and Indian Acres, picking up cleaning supplies at Dollar General for my wife and trying to say hi to mom.
She mentioned during our conversation that September was only in two weeks, and that… made me pause in disbelief because it was only April… yesterday, right? Time is indeed a flat circle. Had I – better yet, all of humanity – simply busied ourselves forward four months into the chilled embrace of late summer? Yes, answered the cool air that evening.
Nietzsche might have been on to something in terms of civilization or humanity as a whole; someone has always had to shovel cow dung, seemingly with no end in sight. However, our individual lives contain not just one beginning and one end, but many spread over the course of a lifetime wherein routines ebb and flow with the tides of existence.
Time, as evidenced by graying hairs and weathered faces, does go forward beyond the horizon… but who’s to say whether it continues going straight just out of sight or if it simply turns as part of an unknown circle? I do not know the answer to that, so just to be safe: we should all step off the path from time to time and enjoy a moment in the here and now.
Greetings! I am planning a “mailbag” edition of Coffee in Coby soon, so please send any questions you may have for me about Schoharie County politics, the Atlanta Braves 2021 World Series title or whatever else, and it might just be included. My email is timothycknight93@gmail.com.
