Make Your Own Time Capsule Gail Strock (artwork by Aaron Strock) Mifflin Co. Correspondent What is time? It’s not the clock on the wall. It’s not something we can take a picture of or buy a bucket of. We can describe its character istics. Time is always moving forward. It has a past, a now, and a future. But what is time exactly? The World Book Encyclopedia tells us to think about time as a change from a before to a now. For example, yesterday (before), the ground was dry. Today (now), it’s covered with snow. The peri od between the before and the now shows that time has passed. Thus, when change happens, time passes. Some changes occur on a reg ular basis - the rise and setting of the sun and moon, the chang ing seasons, the waves breaking on the shore. Events or changes that happen at random are mea sured by the changes that hap pen on a regular basis. We know, for example, that a thunder storm occurred three days ago because of the regular rising and setting of the sun. By measuring time, we can see how things change. The clothing children wear today is different from what was worn 100 years ago and extremely dif ferent from what we image men and women wore when they first walked on earth. We learn of more recent changes through books, videos, movies, artwork, newspapers, and magazines. One hundred years from now, people will be wondering what life was like at the turn of this millennium. More specifically, some of your family members generations from now will be wondering what your life was like at this momentous time in history. You can let future gener ations know by putting together a time capsule. Create Your Own Time Capsule A time capsule helps record what life was like for a civilza tion during a certain time in his tory. Time capsules are usually large plastic containers filled with items, sealed, and then opened many years later. Time capsules were buried at the New York World’s Fairs in 1939 and 1964. When the United States celebrated its 200th anniversary from 1975 to 1976, many people buried time capsules. One very large time capsule in Seward, V*iy- r % Nebraska, even holds an auto mobile and a motorcycle. It will be opened in 2025. This would be a good time to put together your time capsule. You don’t need to bury it. Just keep it in a safe place. Be sure to put a note inside that tells who made the time capsule and when. Be sure to date it! Here is a list of items you might want to include in your time capsule. Add your own ideas. • Children’s toys • Newspapers and magazines • Diary entries • Photographs • Family tree • Written family history (Interview your parents and grandparents about what life was like during their childhood. Be sure to record their ages, the date they were born, and the time era they’re talking about.) • Coins or paper money m 3 aiS Let’s look at the following time measurements. day - a length of time based on the rise and fall of the sun month - based on the change in the visible shape of the moon seasons - the cycle of four seasons (approximately 365 1/4 days) week - not based on any earthly changes; came from the Jewish custom of observing the Sabbath every seven days hours, minutes, seconds - clockmakers could show these smaller divisions of time on the face of a clock I Cv **•*9 Start • HereJ :j 'IV./ V* St*rt 1 Hereof s •• <£l ') fr * . \ 12 9 To " %2 ° J ' 19 * 10 2* 3 / 0 l i' \ « \ • • 17 16 15
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers