We Don't Understand Time

  In 2007 I took a trip to Rome and Athens as my college graduation present. While I could go on and on about how awesome the whole experience was I am continually brought back to one particular conversation. While we were taking a tour of the Coliseum and the ruins of the Roman Forum our tour guide was discussing the advanced ages of the columns and buildings we were passing. We were walking along a road of what appeared to be black gravel and someone asked her "How about this road? How old is it?"

    "Oh not very old."  she remarked. "It was probably built during the Middle Ages."  Saying I was shocked would have been a gross understatement. In my American mind 200 years ago was really old. Yet this road was a mere 700 to 900 years old.When compared to the other buildings in Rome though, which were built sometime around first century AD, I guess 700 years isn't that old compared to 2000. Europe has such a history that American's can barely comprehend because we can not think like that. If you were to tell a European about that really old mansion built in the 1700's they would probably laugh at you.  What made the point sink in all the more was our next stop, Athens. The guide at the Parthenon told us that construction of this most famous tourist destination in the city was  during the 440s and 430s BC. That is over 2400 years ago!

Then, think about this. The Great Pyramids in Egypt were built sometime around 2470 BC....that makes a grand total of 4,482 years ago (give or take). Cleopatra who lived in the first century BC was closer to our time period than she was to when the Great Pyramids were built. The way we talk about Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and Alexander the Great was somewhat comparable to how a Greek in the first century BC would have talked about Ancient Egypt.  

Now back to the initial point. We do not understand time here in America.  Here's an example for you. The people who lived in the time of Jesus or the apostles did not feel like they were living in this newly created world where everything was new and exciting. They felt like we do, that history was all around them and they could look both into the immediate past and the far distant past to learn about their world, just like we can today.