Chronology

chro . nol . o . gy /noun/ the arrangement of events in time, the arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence

Do you remember when, as a child, you longed for Christmas to arrive, but it seemed that it would never  come? Time crawled as you waited for the special day. Yet the waiting time–the time between–was good for you because it was time for dreaming. No matter that you dreamed about things you never received. Dreaming does wonderful things for the soul.

This week’s word chronology is about time. It suggests an orderly, meaningful sequence; it relates to things happening according to an established  or expected pattern. Time was when there was an established order to the events that occurred in the fall of the year–no rush from one major involvement to the next. There was breathing time,  time to plan and measure possibilities.  Not anymore. We have now compressed  time, each event rushing headlong into the next one.

What ever happened to the time between? In the last quarter of the year, time  has been collapsed into a string of frenzied activities. It used to be that Thanksgiving Day came after a time of planning and preparation. We allowed ourselves time for the  eager build-up to  the special day when  there was a mixture of savory aromas from the kitchen, a warm welcome for family and friends, and animated conversation. The church service was the prelude  to the time  around  a well-laid-out table where there was much laughter and swapping of stories. The day ended with good feelings all around, and the time that followed  allowed us to once again get in sync with the daily life cycle.

Now Thanksgiving Day is a jumping-off point for a lengthened  shopping season. We had felt it coming in the din of commercials on television and in the gaudy flyers that inundated our mailboxes, all of which announced that Black Friday would sweep in on the wings of Thanksgiving Day.  Black Friday had its earlier meaning, but now retailers have taken advantage of people’s obsession with getting a bargain and have turned Black Friday into a day for them to  get their finances into the black. Among the  commercials this year, there were some department stores that brazenly announced that they would open as early as 4:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day–even before the dishes were scraped and placed in the dishwasher.

No sooner had the Black Friday spectacle passed than Cyber Monday swooped down to disturb the chronology.  No interlude. The commercials told of the ease with which  shopping online  could accommodate our desire for things and to have them at a discount.  The assessment from the financial sector came in on Tuesday morning: billions of dollars were spent on  online shopping. On to the next stop without so much as a breather.

Giving Tuesday arrived on the heels of the departing Cyber Monday. This newly-created event fills in the time that  should take us gracefully into the blessed Christmas season. That slot is now held down by large  numbers of charities angling for some of what is left over from the shopping spree.  Giving Tuesday–Global Giving Tuesday, as I believe its proper title is–has a laudable motive. After lavishing wildly on the  self,  shoppers can feel good turning their attention to the needs of others. Moreover, as I have  heard it explained, the giving doesn’t have to involve money. The idea is to give back, a very magnanimous attitude indeed.  However, it falls into the chronology that tends to merge time and cause events to run together in a way that diminishes  life and sentient living.

In an earlier time, Thanksgiving, instead of  signaling the beginning  of a frantic season of “getting and spending,” was a period of expectancy. After the celebration of the Day, the time between, though brief,  gave us a chance to collect our senses and make our lists. For many of us  it was the preparation for the Christmas pageant and a variety of inspirational programs. I can remember that Mercedes (of blessed memory) always selected a delightful cantata for our church and  chose me  as narrator, since my voice wasn’t up to making  melody in the choir.  At the performance,  I stood on stage and  joined words to the spirited music of John Peterson or some other cantata composer. This was the time between that helped us think of weightier matters.

Now it seems that we can’t wait to fill up the  space of our “quiet desperation.” We have invented events that challenge the chronology that had for so long been satisfyingly observed, and there’s little hope  that things will change. With our feet planted firmly in  what one writer has called the Kingdom of Thingdom, we are likely to  invent even more events to fill up the space between. In the island, we have a saying: “What gone bad a morning can’t come good a evening.” We’ve  gone too far  down the road that has upset  chronology. Perhaps along the way,  in preparation for  Christmas,  we’ll pause long enough to  remember  Whose birthday we’re celebrating and the transcendent meaning of that long-ago  event.

Blessings,

Judith

*****

“They say I’m old-fashioned and live in the past,
but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast?”
Dr. Seuss