Day 326 - Important Story

Important Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Everything feels important. Everything always does. There are always a million and one things to do and none of them can ever wait. But not everything is important. No matter what it feels like. Not everything could get done and not everything is truly important. That much was true.

When Martin was young, he was well-read and a dedicated student. He steered clear of people and friends that would corrupt him and guide him down the wrong path. Martin made good grades and stayed away from diversions and vice. He dated girls, but he never got serious. He didn’t tie himself down. He didn’t make bad choices. He didn’t make mistakes that would keep him from achieving what he wanted to achieve later in life. What could be more important than any of that?

When Martin became a man, he worked long hours and was a dedicated employee. He was honest and dependable and was willing to do what others didn’t want to do. He learned new skills and constantly made himself more valuable. He took calculated risks and made well-thought-out career moves. What could be more important than that?

Martin saved his money. He invested his money. He was frugal and careful and smart. He earned and learned and made more opportunities for himself. He sacrificed the present for the future. He was well prepared and looked ahead.

Martin dated but hadn’t fallen in love yet. He didn’t have time for silly pursuits and failed to find someone worth his time. He didn’t believe in wasting time, he had no interest it that. There was always something else that was more important to do, something that needed his energy and focus. He always told himself there would be time in the future if he ever changed his mind.

When the drunk driver struck his car, there was nothing more important than that. The future didn’t matter. Astute planning didn’t matter. Nothing else, as it turned out, mattered. In an instant, everything was different.

There were operations. There was recovery. There was physical therapy. Martin spent a year and a half of his life with nothing else to do. Time crawled by. Bedridden and melancholic, Martin found solace with a pen and a notebook. He made lists. He made goals. He filled pages and pages with ideas and aspirations. The lists were long, but he had never been one to think small.

Martin knew he was a different man. He wasn’t fully walking yet. He hadn’t resumed his old life yet. He knew he would never be the same. He didn’t care about anything from his past. He didn’t care about any of his old goals or the things that seemed so important before. He cared about time. He paid close attention to the clock on the wall. Time became his only commodity of thought.

There were important things to do. There were always important things to do.  But now everything was measured in minutes to complete and the value of that time.

He had his life again, he had a second chance, but he had no idea how long a chance it would be or how many minutes he would have. What could be more important than that?