Who Knows Where the Maze Goes

Time, as we know, appears to be very flexible. The more experiences we have (ergo: the older we are) the faster it seems to pass. Children, who have little experience in life, feel that time passes way too slowly, especially waiting for Christmas or birthdays.

Take a lab rat in a maze. At first, the little rat gets let out of his den every morning and runs the maze to where he learns the cheese is. He grabs the cheese and heads back to his den to eat it. The next morning, and the next, he continues going to the cheese door, getting it and taking it ?home?. This is a rather boring routine and time passes very slowly for him, since, after he ate his cheese there was nothing to do and nothing new to think about. Then, one day, the cheese door is closed and he has to learn a new route to locate his cheese. He follows the new route and then suddenly that door is closed and he has to learn yet another path through the maze. Now, it is a big maze so it can take a while to learn the way around.

One morning, the rat got up (now, I know rats are nocturnal, but bear with me) and went outside his den. There was no wall blocking his way. Instead, there was a meadow with grass so he cautiously went in and explored. He had never experienced anything like this, but he decided he really liked it so he spent a few days there, and, every morning his cheese would appear in the meadow with him. Finally, he stepped out of the meadow and next door was a mountain stream and flowers. He liked that, also, so he spent a few days exploring that environment. This went on and on and the rat grew ever more experienced as he learned many new things. Along the way, he met other rats who were also learning new things and they shared ideas and thus learned of even more wonderful experiences that could be enjoyed.

Now time was passing very quickly and he started to age. He found it difficult to get around as much as he wanted and once again time seemed almost to slow down. Then he remembered all his experiences and he had something to think about and once again his sense of time expanded. One day, a young rat came upon him as he lay in the sun, reading a book. The young rat asked what the secret was to making time go faster and the much experienced, older rat, replied that it was experiencing life. The more experiences you try, the faster time seems to go but in fact it is just the opposite. When you grow tired, you have a lifetime of memories to examine to fill your hours. You have hobbies to enjoy, books to read, music to listen to, friends to talk to, and, you have young rats who come for advice and that is good.