To Time's Passengers

 The above message is for each of us to take to heart every day...
from the movie The Help

The strict alarm-clock bites the air

And pushes progress into flight

Cloud-ships, unruffled by fan-fare

Sail stirring seas of first daylight

Time’s passengers, we, the people

Rouse and rise to face, who knows?

Duty and desire mingle

In euphoric highs and lows

Beck and call fills out new dockets

Purposed or not, we all reply

Some, for pennies in their pockets

Some, for dream-dust in their eye

Some become the king of dollars

Some, pure sunshine for the heart

We, the people, first-time scholars

All must learn to do our part

…and within our coming-going

Whether we see it or not

We touch others, oft not knowing

The full impact of spilled thought

We, the people, yon and hither

Should keep this one thing in mind

…how our splash of dash-and-dither

Affects those following behind

© Janet Martin

I've been pondering this line since reading it the other day...

 But at that moment I realized what may be the biggest tragedy of all—that we can always see the effect of this world upon us, but rarely the effect of us upon the world.

By Bill Coffey from Affecting Our World