What tense?

Sometimes I feel like I must be the only person in the world who doesn't quite get tense. Really--what is all this stuff about past tense and present tense and future tense?

You know? Past tense is, like, in the past. Over with, done, kaput, fini, as the Raven said, "Nevermore." Why get all worked up about past tense? There isn't any way to change it. So mellow out. Relax. Let past tense be past.

And future tense is, well... it's in the future. There's no guarantee there will be a future so why worry about the I wills or the I won'ts? Unless you have the secret to the time continuum so that you can travel back to the future, you might not ever have to worry about future tense. And by the time you get there, it might all be different from what you imagined.

Now the present tense is an entirely different ball game. The present is not yesterday or tomorrow. It's right this minute I'm breathing, in, out, in, out... See, that's easy to manage. Minute by minute. It's the kids screaming in the back yard, the spousal unit snoring in the recliner, and the toilet overflowing in the bathroom. Now. And usually, that's enough to worry about at any one time.

At least for me it is. Probably that's why some people think I'm zen....

anny