it always just says "now" ...

I bought a cheap watch from the crazy man
Floating down Canal
It doesn’t use numbers or moving hands
It always just says now

Jimmy Buffett "Breathe in, Breathe out, Move on"
2006 Album "Take the Weather With You"

I love that line, "It always just says now"

What a great reminder to live in the moment.

Last night Alexandria UMC was the venue for the 15th Annual Alexandria Festival of the Lakes Chamber Music Series. World-class musicians took the stage for two hours of beautiful, live music. I've come to realize that music like this is as much a visual experience as it is an audio experience. Watching the passion in which the artists play is captivating.

I once heard someone say, perhaps it was on MPR, that think about music 100 years ago, or even 200 or 300 years ago. Think about how special it was. When Bach played Brandenburg Concerto Number 1, it was the only time that piece of music would be heard that exact way. When someone picked up a violin and played a tune in the evening to calm the kids down for bed, it was there for only that one moment. That one moment, that was it. Think about how people appreciated that, they couldn't rely on popping in a CD and listening to it over and over. It kind of blows me away thinking about it.

Could it be that we've lost that appreciation for the "now", the moment because technology has given us the ability to literally freeze time? (Unfortunately, too many of us don't take the time to use that opportunity to learn from past mistakes!) Do we look to the future, with disregard to the present, knowing that the past will be there - recorded somewhere in some format?

(I can imagine the offense someone might take by leading off a blog with lyrics from Jimmy Buffett and then referring to Bach .... ummm, get over it.)

What does your watch say?

(FYI, the song is about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.)