What the face of a clock taught me.

If the Minutes hand (MH) had a dialogue with the Seconds hand (SH), it would go something like this:

MH: Why are you always in a hurry?


SH: Me? Well, I am chasing the seconds. 


MH: What for?


SH: To come full circle.


MH: And then what?


SH: Then I go at it again. Another round!

MH: And then?


SH: erm…I think that’s where you come in?

MH: Well, I guess I move too. You complete a circle and I move.

SH: Yes, I chase 60 seconds to nudge you one minute. 


MH: True, true. And when I come full circle, the Hours hand (HH) moves. We are all connected this way. 


SH: That’s right. I move, you move, and the hours move. But what happens when HH completes its own circle?


MH: Well, you will have to ask him that.


HH: (chimes in) Hi, guys. I can't help but overhear you guys. You know I can’t go anywhere…we are all connected at the center. But let me reply to that. 


MH: Please do sir.


HH: After you guys complete your circle, I move. We all move at the right nudge, at the right time. Every pursuing of the seconds and minutes therefore count. And after I complete my rounds, something strange happens.

SH: Tell us sir, what happens?


HH: Well, the world kind of changes. 


MH: Changes? How?

HH: It moves too. The day turns to night and the night turns to day. This is what makes the world go round.

SH: Wow...didn't know I could start a chain reaction sir? I thought I was just chasing the seconds, that's all.


HH: Well, never underestimate the important role you play. Should you stop, we all stop too.


SH: And what happens then? Will the day and night stop too? 




HH: Mm...not quite, my little one. But it's true that when you stop, we all come to a standstill. Without you completing your circle, we are as good as dead. In fact, every round you make, every time you pass us by, we come alive. You give us hope. You put a smile on our faces. You actually give us reasons to move forward.

MH: But sir, isn't it true that even day and night have their own circles to complete? 


HH: Well, not directly, but yes. The earth moves too and it spins round. And every round it spins, the day and night dances with it. They take their turns to lead and it’s a sure sign of aliveness.


SH: Wow, and should the earth stop spinning sir...


MH: ...the days and nights stop dancing then, right?

HH: Well, you can be sure of chaos if the earth stop spinning. And mind you, the grandest circle of life is the earth spinning its way around the sun.

SH: So the earth spins round the sun in circles?

HH: Well, more like a stretched circle, but yes. And as it spins round the sun, and comes full circle, a year would have passed, all 365 days. And that would make it 31,556,926 seconds, 525,600 minutes and 8760 hours. That’s how connected we all are. So honestly, I can't imagine the earth ceasing to spin round the sun...it would be a dead earth I guess.

SH: (musing) So we're all completing our own circles...


MH: ...all advancing forward.


HH: That's right guys. We are all progressing. In human world, there is a circle of life too. They are born, they grow, they mature through hard times, they grow even more, and then comes old age, and they pass on. And every time this happens, a new life takes its place and starts the circle of life all over again. We are all moving forward. You, me, the earth and human life. And in moving forward, we move everything forward too. Life may go round in circles but the beauty of it all is that with every circle it makes, everything changes. And we are never the same after that. It is progress basically.


SH: And should human life stop?


MH: Mm...then they are as good as dead.


HH: (laughs) All true. We are all connected. The father to his son, the mother to her children, the society to its community, the government to its people, the earth to its inhabitants, and all of them move with time. A standstill would mean a certain death. We all have to keep moving, advancing, progressing. We all make our rounds, come full circle, and every time we do that, we bless others in their own journey. This connection only flourishes when we move forward. As humans persist in life, against all odds, and progress by the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days and nights, everything will change with them. Life moves, and in it, humans have their being, their learning, their savoring, their overcoming and their joy.


SH: (thinking) Is that why our Master Clockmaker designed us? To move always, and in ever-impactful circles? Making a difference by progressing?


HH: How wise of you my little one. Yes to all that.


MH: And I wonder sir, if it still works the same way if we are created to move round a square or triangle?


HH: (smiles) No son. It doesn't. We will come to a stop, a very abrupt one.

MH: How so sir?

HH: Well, the hands on the clock must be of stretchable lengths in order to sweep round the perimeter of a square or triangle, or for that matter, a rectangle. We are created to go in circles guys because only in a circle can we have our center. And it is our fixed center that allows us to move and pursue the seconds, the minutes and the hours of everyday with purpose. With a fixed center, we can complete our cycles and still maintain our stability, security and direction. In other words, we will never get lost. That’s what the Master Clockmaker wants us to never forget.


MH: …and we all share the same center, all connected to it.

HH: Amen to that.

SH: Wow, thanks for the wonderful lesson. I better keep my focus. I am coming back full circle and I can't wait to savor the changes that the world will undergo. Bye. Cheerz.