Pass: verb - to move or cause to move in a specified direction.

Time: noun - the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.

Pastime: verb - something that amuses and serves to make time pass agreeably.

“A great American Pastime.” Baseball. A form of entertainment that has apparently gained so much notoriety it has been associated with American culture at a trademark level. But what interests me is not the sport itself but what it has become to represent; a pastime.

This concept bothers me.

The idea that we as a society have integrated this way of “wanna be time travel” into our daily vernacular is disturbing and seems to beg larger questions. Time itself is infinite, but we as humans are not.

So who taught us to believe that time was something so unbearable that we needed to pass it like a kidney stone?

Let’s delve into what exactly we mean when we say pastime. Do we mean to make the minutes on the clock go faster? This is obviously impossible because a minute is a minute to everyone. BUT it has been shown that time is relative to everyone, so the idea of “pastime” can actually be used as a pseudo time travel because if you perceive time to be speeding up, then it will in a way.

However, we as humans can’t truly pass or overcome time. As a concept it is infinite, and because humans have a finite frame of existence, it stands to reason that the idea of a human passing the time is truly laughable because well, we can’t.

So what then are we getting at when we say pastime? I would argue that I have heard it being used to speak of how to move through the space in between certain life events. We deem specific activities as exciting and meaningful, but often forget that we are still living in the times in between. In our haste to go from moment to moment, we fill up the “empty” space with things we like to call pastimes.

But life is never full of empty space, you are always alive and whether you chose to be cognizant of it or not, your life is happening now. I feel people have an “I’ll be happy when.. ” or “my life will really start when..” mentality. We seem to be in a constant state of phasing between miraculous moments, the day in and day out that is reality.

This is something that I think we come by quite honestly though, as it has been deeply enculturated in us since the dawn of our most powerful literature, especially in Western culture. The Epics such as the "Iliad", "Odyssey", and "Aeneid" are the building blocks of the stories we consume in popular culture today.

To be classified as an Epic, certain criteria must be met. But the most important of these is the fact that all Epics must being their narrative in the middle of the story; the hero’s story. We see this not only in these ancient legends, but in our movies, television, books, and dramas.

Have you ever seen one of them start from the day the protagonist was born and depict every monotonous detail of their existence until the story becomes what is considered entertaining? Nope!

Even shows that observe everyday life start when there has been some level of build up over time for the characters and a backstory to draw on in order to suggest that something is going to happen. This is to say, I think we often times find ourselves waiting for our “middle,” where our life becomes one of epic proportions. Hence the need to pass the time until it is something that we deem worthy of noting.

So why then do I hate the term pastime? Because frankly, life is not always going to be amazing, exciting, entertaining or even enjoyable. But we are living nonetheless, and time is slipping away from us with every breath. We cannot wait for the middle of our story for our life to being and become meaningful because that is honestly not up to us. After all, we are only humans. But something that we can control is how we go about our everyday lives, and learn that they are indeed a part of our story. You are just as much alive on trip to the grocery store as you are on your wedding day or graduation, you just have different levels of awareness of these experiences.Now, I’ll admit it is hard to be aware all the time, and I would argue that it is also impossible in its own way. But to be mindful of these seemingly meaningless events has helped me truly start to see things, and realize not only my story but that of others. We do not have to feel like a slave to life and its happenings, we can be active participants. Being aware of reality and my place in time has been one of the most difficult, beautiful, and painful of journeys and will continue to be; but that’s just life right? And from the small moments to the grandiose, I would not want to pass them up for the world.