Rome Wasn't Built In A Day(II)

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day(II) - Last weekend I just couldn't believe that none of my older show costumes fit anymore which of course made me angry for the umpteenth time. Thank God, my husband is clever enough to meet the same old tricky question, "Do I look fat?" elegantly by keeping it just like Abraham Lincoln in that commercial who completely non-verbally indicates, 'just that much'. Seriously, I used to be much skinnier in the past, so what the heck happened one may wonder? In fact, this question is rather useless as time clearly bears witness to my transformation. "Nothing from nothing", I can hear my Dad's words as clear as a bell. Sure, I looked much better back then, but I certainly did not put on all that extra weight overnight. This, we -the biggies- seem to preferably push aside. 9000 kcal is a lot, and either way, be it adding on or losing a kilogram or 2.5 pounds, this is nothing anyone can do in no time. Time indeed proves to be the trickster here as slow weight gain or loss remains unnoticed or quite a while, but actually this is how long it takes to increase or decrease one's body fat content efficiently enough. On a less cheerful note, the same principle appears to apply to most chronic ailments and illnesses. Take Arthritis for instance which usually doesn't just pop up after a short period but definitely needs its time as well to develop and become inflammatory. The Gout, too, does not attack us after temporarily consuming a few steaks in a row too many but gradually comes into being. Even some cancers, especially in older patients don't grow that fast really but take at least a few years to finally become benign or malign. Honestly, as a former smoker of 25 years, I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am that I got away with just a mild form of COPD. It always takes one to know one, they say. Hm, let me tell you, since I walked in those shoes for a long time myself, I know all the tricks and gimmicks around smoking. I was just as cocky, arrogant and reckless as any other smoker, too, usually thinking, "Ah, what's one darn cigarette gonna do?" Well, after doing some math, I came up with the mind- boggling number of 182.500 cigarettes that I puffed away in two and a half decades. Considering how damaging just one unlit cigarette with over 350 different toxic substances, chemicals and carcinogens is, I'd better call myself extremely lucky for not having developed lung cancer! Of course, we can never generalize assuming that every smoker has the same amount of time at hand until they ultimately get seriously sick, but for the majority it usually takes quite a while. Alcoholism is just as bad, but again getting boozed up over weeks and months at a time usually does not leave severe and irreversible damage yet. Not yet is apparently what it all comes down to. - A stutterer will most likely not overcome his speech impediment in just a few weeks unless put under professional hypnosis and released from 'old' karmic traumata or other past- life residues. There is nothing whatsoever I could think of that develops fast indeed other than natural disasters, of course. Just think of skills in general and all the many years that flow into perfecting them. Yes, there are lots and lots of super talented folks out there, but I'm pretty positive that they also practice, rehearse, polish, and put their gifted skills to the test once in a while. - Back to politics. The process of establishing national and international diplomatic relations among friend or foe also runs its natural course and doesn't advance instantly. It looks like time is the key essence of it all, no matter how you look at it. Depending very much on how we work it, time can be both, our ally or our worst enemy. Looking away, dodging or even denying the truth which always comfortably rests on hard facts one way or another is the worst we can do. Always stay alert and face reality the way you perceive it deep down inside you and never the way it's been portrayed as to deliberately steer you in a preferred direction. And last but not least, act if it becomes necessary to fight for the collective well- being of a healthy and prosperous society.