Does anybody really know what time it is?
As I was walking down the street one day. A man came up to me and asked me. What the time was that was on my watch. Yeah... and I said. (I don't) Does anybody really know what time it is? (Care) Does anybody really care? (About time) If so, I can't imagine why. (Oh no, no) We've all got time enough to cry.
From the band Chicago, the lyrics of the song cry out for clarity of meaning and time is the measure. You see time is prejudged as yours or mine, as enough or not enough, and we are unwilling to accept an arbitrator's opinion.
In the life of football (American) for example, one can call a timeout, one can ask for a replay of a time sequence, an arbitrator can determine if time should be added or subtracted and then finally time runs out. But wait! We can be granted overtime, and sometimes it ends in sudden death...
Time, relative to my view, must be self-serving. We have timelines, stop watches, designated time, lost time, meaningful time and we try to fill time, not waste it and by all means make the most of it by spending it well, and by the way, time isn’t time as much as it is money, therefore time must be scheduled.
We juggle time based on conditions and variables reluctantly trying to figure out how to “spend-time-together, not just anytime mind you, but quality time.”
Some people you know have too much time on their hands while others waste their time, or much worse--yours.
One of the worst things we can be accused of is wasting someone's time, so much so that we beg forgiveness in the form of “…do you have a couple of minutes…, or,...did I catch you at a good time…” remember a New York minute is not the same as island-time.
But by far the mother of all time distortions is sequential time value (STV). This means in the course of things: who does and what when!
Cunningly, STV shames: you have misused your time, thereby causing me to lose time--why did you not do it on time thereby causing me to reschedule my time. to do what you should have completed, in the timeframe I allotted?
On we go, moment after moment, arguing about or negotiating time trying to give equal time to speakers based on the value of their time. Negotiating sequencing is time consuming. Run it by me to pre-approve and then then again later in time in case in the meantime someone at the last minute (or the 11th hour if you wish) caused me to change my mind in the nick of time.
Time seems to require a great deal of trust… especially when you volunteer yours...
Sangaku
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