THE MYSTERY OF LOST TIME

I grant up front that these two musings may seem peculiar and disconnected. But hear me out. I'm thinking here of Abraham Lincoln and a local dentist. The connection between them is in the respective loss of time in their lives...

Whenever I visit Lincoln's Springfield home, I enjoy the obvious: Parlor, kitchen, bedrooms, and ghosts. But I can't help be distracted as I walk the 50 yards between the kitchen door and the outhouse. I can't help but think of all those minutes and hours used (wasted?) as the great man had to trudge back and forth. Without the amenities of indoor plumbing, I calculate Abraham Lincoln may have "lost" a cumulative total of up to two weeks in his lifetime this way.

There will be those who argue great ideas have been nurtured in the toilets of the world. Somehow, though, I doubt it in the case of so many of the raw, rainy, cold days in our Illinois climate. And so there is this additional ghost for me in these respectfully preserved Springfield rooms. The ghost of all those thoughts and feelings and words and power that might have emerged from these rooms and this man had he simply possessed what we so take for granted: Wall-to-wall comfort within which we need not be distracted by the distracting elements!

All right, if you have trouble with that, consider this second example: A local dentist who had always wanted to be an actor. When a professional touring company came to town some years ago, he got a small but important part in the production. As fate would have it on the night we were in the audience, the good doctor apparently had a backstage change-of-mind.

When the third act was to have begun, there was a long delay. Then the lead character stepped out in front of the curtains to embarrassingly announce: "Mr. Jones, who is playing the butler, is unfortunately not able to continue..." And while the cast made do with an understudy, we were intrigued by what had happened. After the show, we found out.

Mr. Jones -- who had a tooth extraction scheduled early the next morning -- just felt he had to go home and get his sleep. So -- that's it! -- so he just picked up his makeup and went home. Not being a professional, he had no compunctions. And thus was "lost" an hour of his life, the life of the cast, and the life of we the audience. All because of a whim.

While Lincoln lost quality time due to circumstances, Dentist Jones did due to a lack of conscience. And in this small, peculiar mind, I can't help wonder if any of that lost time -- like the lost time in our lives -- might have made some kind of difference...