The speed at which the day goes by can be daunt­ing. Weeks evap­o­rate and months turns into semes­ters and years.

In all of this mov­ing for­ward, we inevitably neglect the present.

When a friend calls in need of a ride home from the bar, it takes only 15 min­utes to pick them up and take them to their apart­ment safely. Just those 15 min­utes and the assur­ance that a friend is ok.

It’s not much time. Really, the min­utes are neg­li­gi­ble; it doesn’t have to be 15. What is impor­tant is what hap­pens in that time span and the last­ing effects.

Only 15 min­utes to call Grandma and make her day by telling her about yours.

Only 15 min­utes to open up your cal­en­dar and mark the big days com­ing up in the next few months, and see what you’ve got to do.

Only 15 min­utes to look back and see what you’ve already accomplished.

Only 15 min­utes to make a salad instead of get a drive-thru cheeseburger.

Only 15 min­utes of pack­ing and orga­niz­ing at night can mean 15 more min­utes of sleep in the morning.

Spending 15 min­utes every­day work­ing to ben­e­fit a char­ity means nearly two hours of ser­vice each week.

Spending 15 min­utes read­ing a news­pa­per (prefer­ably the Torch) and you may learn some­thing you didn’t know that you wanted to know.

Just 15 min­utes less watch­ing tele­vi­sion and 15 min­utes more doing just about any­thing else.

It’s only 15 min­utes and a world of dif­fer­ence to some­one, maybe you. n