All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.  

By Blaney Pridgen

We spend too much time on too many things.  They wear us out, burn up our brain cells, and rob time from the better, often achievable matters.  There are a lot of these things, but today I suggest just seven:1. We spend too much time dreaming for something or someone, thinking our lives will be perfect if they are achieved.  This leads to restless longing, a mild form of insanity and a cause of insomnia.2. We accumulate all kinds of stuff which requires too much storage space.  Some of the stuff needs expensive maintenance.  Some requires insurance and taxes.  Some is rarely used which causes time spent on guilt from wasting time and money.  3. We think too much about the afterlife and strategies to arrive there relatively painlessly and with great reward or at least better living conditions.  For some this causes fear and trembling, another waste of time.  For others this causes rapturous rambles while the pot boils over in the kitchen.  Find the hereafter in the here, quietly.  4. We are given to magical thinking.  Consider the title of this offering.  Consider Mickey Mouse singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” or Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.  These songs and some hymnody have led many a lad and lassie over the cliffs of wishful thinking.  Consider endless, excessive prayers of petition, when more often than not we are the answers to our prayers before we pray them.  5. Advertising tells us too often what we deserve; a new car, a cruise, a huge insurance settlement, or clear skin.  We spend much meditation on what we deserve and are not getting.  This keeps divorce lawyers and human relations departments very busy.  We also waste time at 3 a.m. pondering what we really do deserve.6. Then there are individuals who are never quite happy enough.  At the happy family gathering they’re wishing Uncle Fred could be here, but he is dead.  These folk pine away about the missed boats, unkind thermostats, all politics, the cost of bacon, the long wait at the doctor’s office, etc., etc.  They are the bane of waitstaff and clergy.  They waste everyone’s time.  7. We spend too much time reliving our lives to the tune of “If I had that to do over again, …”.  We fail to remember that crystal balls do not exist and that we would be the same flawed person making the same flawed decisions.  Actually, thinking about the immediate future is much better.  

Now you may wonder why I suggest seven and not six or eight.  Well, seven is my magical, lucky number and multiples thereof plus twenty-two; however, I use “Quick Pick” at the curb market.  In conclusion, the numbers of ways we spend too much time on things is greater than the stars and a disappointment to our Lord.

for a Lottery Ticket

By Blaney Pridgen

We spend too much time on too many things.  They wear us out, burn up our brain cells, and rob time from the better, often achievable matters.  There are a lot of these things, but today I suggest just seven:1. We spend too much time dreaming for something or someone, thinking our lives will be perfect if they are achieved.  This leads to restless longing, a mild form of insanity and a cause of insomnia.2. We accumulate all kinds of stuff which requires too much storage space.  Some of the stuff needs expensive maintenance.  Some requires insurance and taxes.  Some is rarely used which causes time spent on guilt from wasting time and money.  3. We think too much about the afterlife and strategies to arrive there relatively painlessly and with great reward or at least better living conditions.  For some this causes fear and trembling, another waste of time.  For others this causes rapturous rambles while the pot boils over in the kitchen.  Find the hereafter in the here, quietly.  4. We are given to magical thinking.  Consider the title of this offering.  Consider Mickey Mouse singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” or Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.  These songs and some hymnody have led many a lad and lassie over the cliffs of wishful thinking.  Consider endless, excessive prayers of petition, when more often than not we are the answers to our prayers before we pray them.  5. Advertising tells us too often what we deserve; a new car, a cruise, a huge insurance settlement, or clear skin.  We spend much meditation on what we deserve and are not getting.  This keeps divorce lawyers and human relations departments very busy.  We also waste time at 3 a.m. pondering what we really do deserve.6. Then there are individuals who are never quite happy enough.  At the happy family gathering they’re wishing Uncle Fred could be here, but he is dead.  These folk pine away about the missed boats, unkind thermostats, all politics, the cost of bacon, the long wait at the doctor’s office, etc., etc.  They are the bane of waitstaff and clergy.  They waste everyone’s time.  7. We spend too much time reliving our lives to the tune of “If I had that to do over again, …”.  We fail to remember that crystal balls do not exist and that we would be the same flawed person making the same flawed decisions.  Actually, thinking about the immediate future is much better.  

Now you may wonder why I suggest seven and not six or eight.  Well, seven is my magical, lucky number and multiples thereof plus twenty-two; however, I use “Quick Pick” at the curb market.  In conclusion, the numbers of ways we spend too much time on things is greater than the stars and a disappointment to our Lord.