Time = Life. Let it Fly, you will Die!

Time.

Perhaps both the most valuable and the most easily wasted resource known to man.  Ralph Waldo Emerson has warned people to “be very suspicious of the deceptions of the element of time” (Emerson 26).  Similarly, Kenny Chesney advises you “Don’t blink” (Chesney, Line 7).  If not, you are risking time flying and life passing by before you even realize it.  While the song “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney and the essay “Experience” by Ralph Waldo Emerson have some contextual differences, they are similar because they contemplate time and its importance in respect to human life.

Deception of time is a central theme in “Don’t Blink” and “Experience.”  Both Chesney and Emerson (and I) believe time can move too quickly if you don’t take a moment to appreciate today.  Chesney draws his inspiration from a man who turns 102 years old; his song is the advice given to Chesney by the old man.  The man warns him of missing his “babies growing up” (Chesney, Line 14) and next thing he knows his “better half” (Chesney, Line 17) will be on their deathbed.  All of the old man’s advice warn Chesney not to “blink.”  By this he means not to cruise through life ignorant of time passing.  In the same way Emerson tells the reader “it takes a good deal of time to eat or to sleep, or to earn a hundred dollars” (Emerson 26).  Emerson wants the reader to step back from daily activities one does out of habit, and to truly admire the world around (him/her/them).  Ignorance of time and its deception is the issue Chesney and Emerson wish the listener or reader to avoid.