“Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.” – Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper
The Editors’ Quote Of The Day
I must disagree with Mitch Albom on his opinion. My dog lets me know when it’s 3:30 pm. he is punctual and he does it flawlessly and I have no idea how he can be so accurate.. It’s his feeding time.
I would respectfully have to disagree, at least as far as the deer are concerned. I had a conversation last weekend with a friend who noted that the deer in his area showed up at the same time every morning looking for the feed he’d left out for them (trail camera with motion sensor and clock). So at least deer have a sense of timing.
I would agree, deer keep a reasonable time clock, however, most likely, it’s their hearing that does the trick. Dear can hear that feeder going off for MILES.
Great little piece on keeping perspective.
Some recent studies indicate dogs sense the passing of time through their sense of smell. As the day heats up air rises and then later sinks. They can smell these different air currents.
I recently heard someone say a year is calculated based on the sun, the month is driven by the moon and week is mentioned only in Genesis.
200 years ago, humans had internal clocks. There was no clock that told the farmer it was time to get up and feed the livestock. He just got up, in the middle of the night (like 4am or thereabouts), and went to feed the livestock.
To me, its commentary about how the modern world has changed how people behave. We’ve become slaves to a rigid world structure. Time to get up (so we won’t be late for work), time to take a break (legal requirements), time for lunch (another legal requirement), etc…
Western man has become Pavlov’s dog.