Over at Cole Mining, you can read an interesting piece about time. It is a well written post about time and its many facets. It is thought-provoking and worth your time. Yes, I went ahead and said that. When I read it, many things went through my mind. The concept of time. How time seems to go faster as we get older. Time is a fascinating concept. However, I kept coming back to another thought. This may not be what Cole wanted to inspire when he wrote his post, but I thank him for placing this into my mind.
There used to be a theme park in Nashville called Opryland, USA that provided many days of fun for me and everyone I know. I won’t go into a lot of detail about Opryland because it has been written about many times. Instead, I am going to write about a ride called Chaos, an indoor roller coaster that was Tennessee’s answer to Space Mountain.
It was a cool ride, and, when it first opened, people were lined up for hours to get on it. Once the line entered the building, warning signs could be seen everywhere, and an announcement played over and over.
“You’re time is running out!”
Apparently, we were in a place that was about to be destroyed, and we were waiting to board the vehicle that would take us to safety. As we stood in line, the announcement continued.
“You’re time is running out!”
Finally, we got on the ride and put on our 3-D glasses. Yep, it was a 3-D roller coaster. As the ride zoomed through the darkness, laser beams shot through the air, and the glasses made it look like they were all over the place. Of course, the ride didn’t last near as long as the waiting process. Despite that, Chaos was a good ride.
At least, it was a good ride for as long as it worked. Not long after the introduction of Chaos, the laser beams broke and were never repaired. Rumor was that the company that built the roller coaster went out of business, and repairing it was impossible. Without the laser beams, Chaos was just a ride through the dark. They tried several ways to make it a good experience, but it was never the same.
Soon after, Opryland USA closed. There were plenty of great rides and entertainment, but I have always thought that the failure of Chaos led to the failure of the park. It had to hurt to spend millions of dollars on a ride that couldn’t be fixed.
As I think back, the announcement is what sticks in my mind about Chaos.
“Your time is running out!”
As it turns out, that announcement was prophetic. Our time of enjoying Opryland was truly running out.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
Thanks for the shout out and the kind words. I’m happy to have inspired your own thoughts- and the remembrance of the ride and its ominous declaration about time. I love that it was called Chaos!
This is the beauty of the WordPress World- we send each other down so many different paths of thought and reflection. So great!
Happy New Year Rick. Look forward to continuing our conversations in 2014!
You’re welcome. There’s so many times that I read a blog and get an idea. Honestly, I never thought blogging could be so interesting.
Happy New Year
I read Cole Mining’s post, which I enjoyed reading, thanks to your post Rick.
Yours is again a very well-written – and connected – post.
Thanks. I’m glad you made it over to Cole Mining.
Time. I was watching some TV show about aliens (the Outer Space ones – as opposed to the Inner Space ones … or those guys across the border) … Uhhh anyway, one of them supposedly commented that us Earthlings were the only beings in the universe who had a “measurement for something that doesn’t really exist.”
There’s a movie in there … somewhere. Maybe a couple a dozen.
If we have time.
That’s a profound statement coming from an alien.