The Value of a Moment How many of us have wished we were able to be just ourselves for a fleeting moment in time periodically - knowing that we had to race out each day and be everything that everyone else us to be - whatever that meant/means? How many times did we just want to be that way with the person we cherished most - shutting the door and world behind us - if only for just a little while? How many of us wished that we could just come home and express our anxieties, fears, frustrations, stresses for just a few fleeting moments without feeling that "yet again" we will be judged? How many of us wished we could simply without being judged as weak? How many of us have simply said about the other "oh he/she will get over it"? How many times would a single word of encouragement have made the difference between success and failure - between happiness or sadness. Yes the argument could be made that no one should need another to get through a difficult time - that they should be able to do it "all by themselves regardless" but how many times would those very few words have made a complete difference between boundless energy versus the feeling of sadness/despair from someone close to us? How many times - if the person closest to you or you to them (male or female) - took just those brief moments in an otherwise hectic day - would it have made a difference on how you/they viewed themselves, changed the way your/their direction in life was going, impacted how they viewed coming home (or not). How many FEW words would it have taken? (and sometimes - no words would have been necessary - just being there would have made all the difference in the world)? How many of us can truly say "we need no one else" and mean it from an emotional, spiritual, physical sense?. How many of those moments are left? But does it matter - perhaps how we use the very few or very many moments we have left can make a difference beyond our wildest dreams and most of the time probably without us even knowing that it did make a difference? After all - no else needs anyone so why waste those precious moments? Written By: Karl Timmermans - Toronto, Ontario July '2000 _________________________________________ Karl@KTimmermans.com Voice: (416) 346-8486 - Fax: (603) 452-9746