PENNIES
When I was a small boy, in the days when my grandfather
was still a young man, nobody resented wasting a little time. I wonder, did
that represent a deliberate judgment, from a time when we were less hurried or frantic,
or was it merely foolishness?
If I were to speak to those who, out of
foolishness, are lazy, I would tell them that while a penny is of little value
on its own, that an accumulation of pennies will, in time, make a rich man of a
poor one. It is for this very reason that a merchant is so likely to hoard each
and every one of his coins. As we go about our sometimes distracted, frantic
days, we may not be aware of the passing moments; yet, we spend them as if they
too have little value, until suddenly, they are all spent. For this very
reason, would not a wise man not bemoan the passage times yet to come, but
instead lament the wasting of a single present moment?
