Eabhmari Publishing

The Manuscript   It is Time that controls and dictate our actions, and time that informs our decisions.  Humans, as a whole, have a false sense that humanity can control time. We employ many methods to try and bend it to our will: the back and forth changing of the clocks, the use of planners, and the carving out of ‘me time’, to name a few. The Manuscript is thought provoking. ‘How can we not be the author of our own fate?’ Colin Ninvalle, Teacher, Martial Artist, and Author is a big believer in the power of time. In his book, “The Manuscript,” published August 27, 2012, the power and force of time’s effect is seen throughout. “Everyman is impatient with time and strives to control time.” (page 16 ) It is the conductor of our every move, and while we strive to avoid any treachery that might be hidden within its currents and undercurrents, it goes on about its business and we move along in its waves, joining it in progress from our conception, and birth, through our youth and adolescence, to adulthood, and then in our old age. The Manuscript is told in the style of a story within a story. It opens with an excerpt from the manuscript, then quickly moves to the narrator sitting on a bench in Toronto’s high park where, “He picked up the manuscript by accident one sunny day.” (page v) “ Nakedly in the open, it lay, scattered on a bed of fallen leaves.” (page v) The words “nakedly”, and “scattered,” infer the fragility of humanity’s progress. The sight of those pages sends the narrator, Pancho, into deep speculation about civilization’s birth, growth, and decline. He draws the parallel between man’s existence and time, when he asked, “‘How do you measure the actual distance in time?’” Normally, time’s influence on us is delicate, even, subtle. See how unobtrusively it sets up Pancho to take home the manuscript, simply by having him think, ‘I will do it later.’ He continues with his daily routine of reading the newspaper. Then, with the passage of time, “… he felt and heard a soft pattern . . .  Rain. ” Driven home by an approaching storm, “. . . Pancho, hastily grabbed his papers and . . . left.” “Life…. It revolves around and within time.” (page 16) “Time sees nobody, except through itself. Therefore, children are the featured messengers of time.” (page 16) Is Pancho as innocent as he seems? When readers are first introduced to him, he is deep in thought. Thinking about a stranger he’d met some weeks back. But his thoughts seemed random, jumping from the past to the present, thus causing some confusion, giving the sense that we are in his stream of consciousness, like humanity in time’s waves. If he is as the rest of humanity, then he too is caught up in times wake. Perhaps, then, Pancho’s daily routine, almost ritualistic in nature can be said to be his way of trying to control time. Yet, it can be argued that he is, if not time, then an agent of it. When we are introduced to him, it is through his thoughts, no other information. No beginning, no end, no aged given, no description. “Mister, is this yours?” . . .. When a child interrupts his stream of consciousness and throws a sheaf of papers on the bench beside him, “Pancho started to get up, to call out to the boy, to call him back, but changed his mind.” (page 12) However, when he comes out of his reverie, immediately, the narrator’s eyes fall on a single person, a man. “The stranger looked neither to the left nor to the right . . . walking briskly towards the exit. . .. His military bearing and distinguished features a . . . contrast to the group of seniors hustling past several youngsters who still stood gawking at the caged beasts.” Then Pancho goes on to note the couples, some of whom will ensure humanity’s continuity within the loop of time. Through Pancho’s observation, the author reveals a microcosm of many stages of time, highlighting that it is relative to the individual. The soldier’s, the seniors’, and the couples’ experiences shape who they were, are, and as with the boy, who they still will become, and so, though similar, their circumstances and experiences shapes, or will shape who they are at the core. The narrator’s’ thoughts circle back to the stranger and their first and only meeting. “Then I left to join the army when I turned eighteen.” Pancho insistently probes the stranger to talk about his time in the army. The stranger is reticent to do so. It’s not until after he takes them home does Pancho realize that the scattered pages, that had sent him deep into thought, are a manuscript left by the stranger. Here we see again, the hands of time in play. Their conversation in the park acted as a catalyst for the stranger to push past his reluctance to doing what he wanted to. At home, Pancho later sees   “. . . at an angle, now relaxed and ready.  The Manuscript pages wedged between sections of the newspaper.” He picks it up and beings to read, “Not so long ago, I lost my family. . .. War is like that. Fruitless.”   With these first words, the narrator is transfixed, and takes the readers along with him as he reads the manuscript. To this reviewer, time is akin to experience. And although our circumstances may not always be the best or ideal, most of us strive to change them. Time played a role in the decisions of the manuscript’s main characters, and each have benefited. The audience, after reading it will see how the crafted hands of time, planned for each character’s moment of realization. And then helped them make the decision to act. As the manuscript indirectly points out, its our life’s experiences that make us who we are. Maybe that is why we often say about time, ‘Where did the time go?,’ and ‘Time goes by so fast!,’ and ‘I can’t believe that it’s that time already.’ We always seem surprized when we fail or see that we are about to fail to get a handle on time. It seems that in our quest for more, it would be easy to get caught up in its undercurrents and flounder. “Time is our friend. It advocates for us.”  Page ()  I can agree with the author that -time is the driving force behind life. We enter life and are here for a short or long time, and we are so busy trying to get control of time, that we forget or don’t think to enjoy the act of being.  There also is something to be said for free will. Pancho did change his mind about discarding the scattered manuscript pages, after all. Humanity is vulnerable to time, because for us it is limited. But it’s up to us to take advantage of the time be do have. “The Manuscript” proves, much can be done with limited time, especially if we start as early, as the stranger did. This book, “The Manuscript,” truly is an astounding reflection about man’s relationship with time. If you would like a good philosophical read, I recommend that you place for the manuscript. Now available from amazon.ca and amazon.com .   Yvonne M Phillip, Author https://yvonnemphillip.com