Handicapped

Ah, the universal sign for “handicapped,” or physically impaired. It’s also the guarantee of a good parking place, unless of course those treasured close spaces have become shopping cart drop sites or it’s the day before Christmas at the mall.

Yes, handicap covers a multitude of issues from being limited physically to golf, horseracing, and even our time. Anyone who can’t shoot a perfect game of golf gets to apply a handicap and of course a horse is handicapped by factors that impede it from achieving its “true” speed. A “handicap” is an attempt to make every playing field level.

But what about time? There really are only 24 hours in a day. For many of us, it restricts our movement, our activities and often prevents us from doing all that we want to do. Yes, money can buy help, efficiency, and speed, but it can’t buy time. Time is a precious resource that gets refreshed each day and constantly challenges us to use every bit of it as efficiently as possible. But in the end it handicaps us and forces us to set priorities and goals to accomplish our best in the space of time that we have been given.