The Fine Art of Timelessness

 

timelessness - noun - quality of not changing as years progress or as fashion changes (Cambridge English Dictionary)

Timelessness is not a polysyllabic word that is used often. In fact, when I did a Google search on it to double check its definition, I found a question that someone posted asking whether or not it is indeed a word. Apparently, it is. When it comes to legitimate English, I trust anyone from Cambridge. 

Timelessness in a person is as rare as the word's common usage. Throughout my life, I can only say that I have known one magnificently timeless individual and am proud that she has been a friend of mine for forty years. Although chronologically, she is somewhere in the vicinity of 88, it really is impossible to associate that numeral with her as she has not really changed much at all over the years. Sure, there are a few more pounds around her middle and miscellaneous wrinkles defining facial aspects, but the celebrity smile, the infectious laugh, the contemporary attitude, the refusal to relax in a box that she doesn't fit into make her perennially youthful. We all should be so fortunate as the Divine Ms. Muriel. 

But she may not be entirely alone, not virtually anyway. The other night, my daughter and I were watching Disney's presentation of "Get Back," hours and hours of edited footage of the super group, the seminal Beatles, caught on camera in a warehouse of a film studio somewhere in England, writing and/or rehearsing timeless songs that are preserved for all time on the trailblazing albums Let It Be and Abbey Road. For nearly three hours, our eyes were transfixed, incapable of disengagement from the screen, yet our mesmerism had little to do with the fact that we both have created original music. Timelessness hooked us. The series is all about timelessness. Although filmed in 1969, all four Beatles in their late twenties look as though they could be alive and well today. Hypothetically, if they were to walk down Fifth Avenue at noon, no one would comment, "Wow, what planet from the past are they from?" Conversely, everyone surrounding them–the various technicians, the producer George Martin, the documentary's director–all appear dated, but not the stars composing the music that has passed the test of time as it is still popular today. So amazing!

"Get Back" got me wondering whether the truly gifted and their gifts don't come with an expiration date intentionally so that they can maintain relevance throughout the progression of eras. Perhaps timelessness is a fine art in and of itself worth preserving somehow when found. 

#word of the day, #vocabulary, #writers, #writers and poets, #words, #inspiration, #optimism, #inspiring words, #humor, #spilled thoughts, #motivation, #inspirational thoughts, #inspiration, #inspirational words, #words of wisdom, #affirmation, #optimism, #poets and writers, #writers community, #writers, #readers #writing