Time Capsules

At the end of last year, Beetleypete posted an online BBC article with suggestions from around the world for telling the story of 2020 in a Time Capsule. Mask. Hand Sanitizer. Pajamas. Beetleypete invited readers to weigh in. Zoom Invitation. Netflix Subscription. Online Grocery Receipts. Toilet Paper. Take-out Restaurant Menu. Forehead Thermometer. Vial of Vaccine. I love the idea of Time Capsules. Like a note in a bottle bobbing on the ocean, they fuel the imagination. They are so optimistic. They presume a future. We always want to open them too soon. Opening one at a 20th High School Reunion does not seem to fulfill the point of a true Time Capsule which should outlive the people who stuffed it. Instant gratification must be stifled. You pay it forward. You do get the fun of imagining someone unsealing it 100 years in the future with no first hand experience with the contents. But you have no idea what the biggest surprises and delights will be. By then, the opening truly makes a connection between different worlds. Ideally you should also be granted the privilege of opening a century old Capsule to capture that future feeling. But life does not run on ideal tracks. Many Time Capsules get lost or destroyed. Ones that are found are often disappointing. Well, I am going to stuff a Time Capsule with my optimism, a copy of this Blog, and a recording of Peggy Lee singing, “Is This All There Is?”