For that elusive bit of time
The last four lines from Kipling's If sum up the human predicament quite well.
Sixty seconds. A minute. How do you fill this minute with value? What is valuable to you now? Will it be valuable to you later, or to those who will carry on your flame?
The countdown timer is above our heads, recording 60 seconds with every minute. It is a very hard thing, to keep the unforgiving minute filled.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!