The Jotted Line

What’s a moment you wish you could freeze and live in forever?

Honestly? I don’t really have any moments I would want to live in forever, not because I don’t have moments I cherish, but because it is oftentimes only the beginning, and to stop a story after only the first page isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Life evolves from every moment. It’s about the collection that makes the whole, not just the parts in isolation.

And let’s face it. If you could only relive the same moment for all eternity… Well, if it was repeated over and over that would get old pretty fast, no matter how much you loved it. If the “time” contained in that moment is impossibly slow so as to last forever, but it seems to pass normally to you — well, it’d seem normal, except you would never get to grow or change beyond that moment. The person you are now, the person you became after that moment would never exist. You’d be stuck with the same thoughts, stretching out across time, with no ability to think beyond the things you did in that moment. And when I think about all the things I’ve done, the things I’ve discovered about myself or others or the world, the way I’ve grown as a person, the things that I could only accomplish over a long period of time, every moment contributing — I wouldn’t want to stay still, stuck in a single moment that, without all the other moments before and after, is meaningless.

Even my happiest moment, my most cherished memory, would mean nothing in isolation. There’d be no point in staying there forever. Every moment has its time, and when that is done and the next moment comes along, the previous moment is carried with you. In a way, you can always relive previous moments, as long as you remember them. And if you don’t, well, there will be more, or maybe someone can remember for you. Or maybe you’ll just live in the present, and that’ll be enough.