Time. There is a great piece in the biblical Ecclesiastes that ponders time. It says there is "a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." There is time for a lot more. There is time to think and time to do. Time is time unto itself. It is not a commodity nor is time money. Some people have the illusion that time is money, and that is truth unto them. We think about time like we think about every else, the best we can. You are subject to time, even though man has often tried to master time.

Some people divide time into seasons. Farmers are known to work in relation to seasons. They have to. Some people divide time into day and night, just like so many species on the planet. Humans also divide time into month, weeks, and days. They allot so much time for work in those time units. They allot so much time for pleasure and rest. Those who are in a position to do so, do so. Some people divide the day into hours and schedule breaks. Some people divide the hour into quarters for billing purposes. Some people charge by the hour, some by the minute and distance.

Time can be divided into seconds and milliseconds. Sometimes fortunes and fame are determined by the millisecond. As much as we would like to master time, time is the master of us. In the TV series HEROS, Hiro is a Japanese gentleman who can "crunch" and to time travel. Time is constant obsession of science fiction. Going back in time or going into the future also make for interesting movie plots.

In the planet dividing time makes a lot of sense. The east coast and the west coast are in two different time zone for very practical reasons. It has a lot to do with the spin of the earth in relation to the sun. I have a son in South Korea. We have two clocks side by side, one for each time zone. We have windows in the morning and in the evening when both parties are available for phone or web based chats.

We also divide time into eras. Again it is the best we can do. The western societies divide time in BC and AD, though many scientist think that is impractical. Therefore they have devised CE and BCE. The two respectively stand for Common Era and Before Common Era. While that is a good try, it nowhere define the correct time. The get the correct time we needed a universal clock at the time of the Big Bang. It would have function backwards down to the moment of the Big Bang and start going upwards from then on in. How that Big Clock would have survived the Big Bang remains a problems but it would have divided seconds to the hundredth degrees. It would also be own by Google or Microsoft by now.

Sometimes it does not matter how we measure time. I had another time change experience. I don't march to function of the alarm clock, so I just woke up around the same time I alway do. About the only time I don't observe my set times is when I have had a carry over from a party or when I'm sick and miserable.

Finally, a young man said to an old man "you must feel pretty old." The old man with looking the young man replied "you must feel pretty stupid."

On second thought, we are always trying to devise ways and means to do more in the time we are alloted. Microwaves, instant cereals, fast food, fast cars, fast jetplanes, instant messaging, and multi-tasking. These things are suppose to help us get ahead. Well they do but the more we can do, the more we are expected to do. Especially by the nag inside your head.

Learn more about this author, Jobie Weetaluktuk.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How we think about time: Philosophical and practical implications?
We want to hear your view. Write now!