For whatever reason, Rob Thomas likes walking around cities in his music videos, whether with his bandmates in Matchbox 20 or as a solo artist. One of the many music videos where this particular pattern of behavior is shown is in his video for the song “Little Wonders,” off of the soundtrack for “Meet The Robinsons,” a frantic and not particularly successful hand-drawn Disney animation movie about a lonely and pensive and often put-upon boy who looks strangely like a younger and animated version of myself, who happens to get caught up in a time-traveling adventure. Anyway, this particular song, a melancholy and reflective song examines the twists and turns of fate that our lives often possess, and certainly my own life has had a lot of dramatic and exciting plot twists.

This evening after dinner, while my mother was getting ready to head back to Florida, I pondered about the anxious hours I have spent over a variety of interrelated issues over the past few years. My life, being fairly complicated as it is, is not straightforward or easy to explain. I have lost several years to the locusts of depression, and then found myself on the other side of it still wrestling with the same concerns about a stable and well-rewarded life while feeling as if the best years of my life were wasted in sadness and darkness, taking away a great many opportunities for the happiness I seek for myself (and others also).

As much as we might wish, none of us can undo the past, or regain the anxious hours we have spent worrying and fretting over problems and troubles. We cannot wipe away the ravages of time on our hearts and minds, even if we might over them up or appear to be far more youthful than we might actually feel or be. We can, and should, choose to do what we can to help our own experiences and struggles serve for the benefit of others who can be encouraged and helped to succeed for themselves, and we who believe in a world to come know that the years we have wasted are nothing in comparison to an eternity of joy and happiness, as well as whatever happiness we can find in our lives here and now in such time as still remains to us.

For those with less hope in the potential of eternity, the time travel fantasy of “Meet The Robinsons” is probably immensely appealing. But going back in time creates all kinds of problems itself. Sometimes even horrible experiences and difficult trials present benefits that are hard to understand and appreciate until much later. If we airbrush our life to get all of the difficult parts out, what sort of character and patience do we build? What sort of nobility do we develop if everything comes easily and no difficult choices have to be made to seek what is best for others and oneself understanding the sort of context and situation one is dealing with. Sometimes it is simply necessary to see those conditions with one’s own eyes, and not even have to talk about it explicitly, just be watchful and aware and also aware that one is also being watched. As long as time remains, there is time to better understand our lives, our situations, and the people in them, and to respond appropriately.