Broken watches…

“Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
-anonymous (but told to me by my dad)

I remember one of the first times that my dad said this quote to me. I actually, for some number of years, thought that he had made it up until I had moved down south and heard it from different people over time. He was making a reference to the possibility that yeah I had a point but I didn’t really get THE point. Over the last 15 or so years I’ve heard him say this in deference to the reality of life and in response to certain actions and/or conversations of others. He has used it politically, socially, comically, randomly, and to my opinion sometimes, unnecessarily. But after all of those mentions it has resonated with me to a degree that is profound right now.

Clocks tell time. Clocks are the measuring stick and barometer by which we recognize and obey time. There are ALL KINDS of clocks in the world. Big, small, new, old, different colors, styles, technologies, features, characteristics, locations, and so on. Clocks are everywhere. Clocks are so much apart of our lives that we picture and remember their faces in reference to us recalling time. When I think 3 o’clock, I see it in my head on some type of clock. We submit, willingly or unwillingly, to some clock all of our lives. There is the clock of your dreams, your growth, your responsibilities, your expectations, that “biological” clock that women most often have to consider, and old “Father Time” that us men have to attempt to stall as we age and welcome, ofttimes unwillingly, the things that “time” takes away.

But back to clocks.

Clocks are analog or digital by their means of communicating with us their info. We host clocks in and on almost everything in our lives. There are at least 25 clocks in my house right now. From the wall clock to the microwave to the tv’s, the camera’s, the caller id’s, the cable boxes, phones, and more. Most of the clocks have the same time because they are all governed by a syncing system that is programmed into them by manufactures, developers, and programmers. That time comes from a central world clock that oversees time across the globe. This clock is the measurement that directs and orchestrates the science and math used to calculate the time across regions and spheres bringing into account all of the pertinent info and data necessary to give us an appreciation of time. That clock interprets for us the different “time zones” and phases that facilitate order upon all space on this planet. Then there are the clocks that we , my family and I, set according to the adjustments preferable to us individually. I set personal clocks 10 minutes fast for purposes of accounting for the “snooze” button presses that are surely to come from me. Everyone “personalizes” their “clock” suitable to their needs.

And then there are the clocks that we wear. Watches, though sometimes fashionable more so than purposeful, are how we can access time immediately upon our persons and further allow, into our space, time to manage us. We are introduced to watches at a very early age and over our years they even become the representation of how well we have “managed” time. A Scooby Doo watch at 3 years old was a cute and subtle way of teaching us time while a middle aged man with a William Baume Flying Tourbillion (retail $75,000) is an overtly obvious if not obnoxious way to illustrate that one has “managed” time to profit himself of “finer living”.

Back to the quote:

“Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
-anonymous (approved & reiterated by my Dad)

Whether you have that Scooby or the William, if your watch stops, at least twice in a day you are going to have the right time. You you may be wrong 23 hours and 58 minutes of the day but for 2 minutes EVERYDAY, you are going to be DEAD ON!

Oh, I am about to GO IN!….

People are clocks. In and around us, people are clocks. More than people being clocks, the “time” that they “tell” is their faith and belief system. As I said before, clocks are EVERYWHERE, all around us and their impression upon and into us, UNDENIABLE! But we don’t have to observe all of the clocks that we see nor the time that they tell. I don’t look at certain clocks because I don’t always need to know the (or its) time. And as far as the “world” clock, its different times only matter when I’m in different places or communicating on that time zone. But I manage my life not by “that” time but in respect to “my” time. I’m sleepy in China at 8 am not because I am so tired but because that is my bedtime back home. (Read deeper into that)

And then there are the watches.

Some people we CHOOSE to invite into our lives. We wear them people. We dress according to their appearance because we like the way “they” fit. We become proud of them and we flaunt them. We brag about and obsess over them. We variate them in and out of our everyday based on how “comfortable” they are too us. Some of them we keep on WAY TOO LONG and they get worn out or deprive our skin of the elements and nature and they leave marks. Sometimes we have them too tightly wrapped around us and they hurt us or leave scars! Some of them are “out of style” or “ahead of the time” and do more harm than good because we spend more time “explaining” them than just appreciating their presence. And then there are the ones we have because they are “fashion” statements. They are not purposeful, they’re just POPULAR!

But what if they are broken!

Some people in our lives say or do the “right” thing that “one” time, or maybe twice, and we sacrifice and surrender unto them our time (EVERYTHING). Instead of them just being their for a specific purpose as an “additive” or ACCESSORY, we make them the FEATURE and almost intentionally ignore that they are not just wrong, but WRONG FOR US, 23 hours and 58 minutes (98% of the day), most of the time. But we will not just observe what they say, WE WILL REPEAT WHAT THEY TELL US! Thereby misleading a mass of others.

Deep breath.

Inevitably, he/she (in your life), whomever they are, no matter what capacity of which they serve you, is going to be right about something. They may speak a word into or on you that gives you the oomph that is necessary to deliver you out of peril and pause and into PROGRESS, PRODUCTIVITY, and PRODUCTION but PLEEEEEEEEASE understand that they are human just like you. They are flawed, imperfect, JUST LIKE YOU. You don’t have to question EVERYTHING about yourself based on an answer that was given to you that one minute. Remember what I said about the time in China? We have to understand who we are and weigh the things outside or around us against that “thing” that is IN US. YOUR TIME is what is true to you (You may be the broken watch as well). But the right time is available.

Master Splinter (Yes I am about to quote Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) said,
“As a leader you must realize that there is no such thing as right or wrong. There are only choices.” When I heard this I felt so compelled to forgive myself of ideas and actions of my past and that are to come that were CHOICES made because I had to make a choice. That I may have not made the one that gave me the outcome that “worked” for everybody or even “helped” everyone else has to be accepted as it was because it was. In fact I hurt a lot of others with my choices. But they were choices I made. That I accept and acknowledge them and take RESPONSIBILITY for them will give me leverage in gaining the wisdom, courage, and strength to make “better” choices going forward. A lot of my choices were made based on the “time” of others. What’s really crazy is that most of the “others” that I was observing, were, admittedly so, BROKEN WATCHES. Some of them were even dead, not fixable.

I know what time it is now.

-see

©2012 Cornelious M. Flowers III