Taipei has an extensive, easy-to-use, and inexpensive MRT system. Just buy a transit card at the airport and go! That was how we travelled for eight days in Taipei, exploring as many nooks and corners as we possibly could.
On one of our trips into the suburbs, we saw a diligent student doing his homework. He wrote and, from time to time, corrected his work with a rubber. Absorbed, he focused on the task until he got off the train. He did not waste his time.
Months later, back in Singapore, I saw a senior citizen, just like the Taipei student, reading (in his own world) on a crowded train. He used his pen to underline, highlight, and annotate. While watching the older gentleman savouring his book, the theme song from the film “Gone with the Wind” (Tara’s Theme) drifted into my mind’s ears. I have read the book and watched the film more than half a dozen times.
Margaret Mitchell described many parties in Twelve Oaks, John Wilkes’ family home. In front of his house was a sign that prominently displayed Benjamin Franklin’s words, “Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” Seneca (a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome) thought it was not that we had little time, but that we had wasted much of it.
Many of us commute a great deal. This is often necessary but wastes precious time unless we do something constructive. Most passengers in MRT trains spend their time glued to their mobile phones (devices). Of course, we must not assume spending time on our handsets wastes time. It depends on what we are doing or consuming.
The Greek philosopher Theophrastus thought time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. On the other hand, Stephen Covey believes that the key is not spending time but investing it. If Covey is correct, at the end of our days, when we have spent (invested) all our time, what do we have to show for it? Perhaps Chikazo Honda’s legacy can inspire us. Let us go to the Matsumoto Time Piece Museum to find out.
Chikazo Honda (1896-1985), a Japanese engineer, loved clocks. He collected clocks and maintained them himself. In 1974, he donated his collection of old Western and Japanese timepieces, hoping many people could enjoy them for a long time. Over time, some citizens donated more timepieces and enriched the collection, leading to the Matsumoto Timepiece Museum’s opening on September 1, 2002.
More than 300 timepieces are on display, many of which are in working condition. We had a wonderful time inspecting and reflecting on time, timepieces, and what we could leave behind when we run out of time and our biological clock stops. Chikazo Honda left behind his collection of timepieces for posterity to enjoy. We hope to do something similar – on a more modest scale, from our modest lives.
Vince
Dr Vincent Chong is a retired Professor of Radiology at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
