The song, “One Moment in time” was sung by Whitney Houston, as written by Albert Hammond and John Bettis:
“Give me one moment in time,
When I’m more than I thought I could be, When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away, And the answers are all up to me,
Give me one moment in time,
When I’m racing with destiny,
Then in that one moment of time I will be free.”
Most of these very popular songs are very nice to listen to but as we listen to the lyrics carefully they do not always make a lot of sense. I do love the thought of ‘One moment in time’ it is romantic, it is exciting, it is stimulating and coming back to reality, one moment in time is not very much time for a person to race with destiny or anything else. But songs are supposed to be harmonious and soothing, they are not supposed to challenge our intellect by being too philosophical, or even educational. However, there are probably ‘moments in time, when I’m more than I thought I could be’ In fact I can think of several moments in time when I was more than I thought I could be. For example, when I walked across the stage to receive my PhD from the University of Utah. Everybody can probably think of a moment in time when they were more. Not only more than they thought they could be but more than their family and friends thought they could be as well.
What can we do with a moment in time? Most of us use that phrase every day, Give me a moment or give me a minute to finish what I am doing and I will be ready, or right with you. Ready to go, ready to do whatever the person wanted us to be ready for. But that moment is usually more like a half hour and after that we may say, I just about have it, give me another second. Our moments in time, are stretched out to minutes and sometimes even hours but somehow we don’t lose much sleep over the extra moments we, or they took.
‘Quit trying to make more out of those lyrics then you need to, just listen and enjoy.’ I’m always being accused of that, I need to just stop thinking about meaning and value and try to enjoy it for what it sounds like.
Some historical events seem like a moment in time, a splash in the pan, a thing of such short duration so that very few are willing to give it much thought. Yet! It may have been an historical event even a good idea when it was first devised. For example, the Pony Express. A brief description of that event was recently written by Chip Wood. It was a remarkable venture. The advertisement for riders was enough to make you wonder how it ever got off the ground in the first place. The “Help Wanted” ad in the newspaper didn’t make it sound like an attractive, fun job:
“Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18, Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.” Surprisingly, several hundred riders were recruited in a short period of time. Riders who were willing to risk their lives by riding through Indian country at breakneck speed on the back of a horse. The Pony Express began carrying mail 148 years ago as of April, 2017. Riders covered 1,966 miles from the Missouri river to San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean. There were relay stations approximately 10 miles apart, 190 in all, where riders changed horses. Horses can only gallop full speed for ten miles before they give out. A letter delivered by pony express only took ten days compared to 25 days by stagecoach. The business was a splash in the pan, only 19 months after the pony express started it ceased to exist. It’s existence was merely a ‘moment in time.’ The telegraph was invented and messages from the east were transmitted in minutes for only pennies. During those 19 months in existence there was only one of those “Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18, Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.” who died, and one mail pouch that was lost. To us, now, the Pony Express was merely ‘One Moment in Time.’ To those young riders the song made much more sense than the words do to me and maybe to you, too. “Give me one moment in time, When I’m more than I thought I could be, When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away, And the answers are all up to me, Give me one moment in time, When I’m racing with destiny, Then in that one moment of time I will be free.”