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Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so – Douglas Adams

The other day, a friend and I had a stimulation discussion about time. We both agreed that time passes by so unbelievably fast. New Year's Eve 2004 seems just a couple of months ago and now we are but a few, brief weeks before 2005 emerges. Man is a creature caught in the dimension of time whether we like it or not, we have to live life in linked episodes or seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. After an animated repartee about the nature and peculiarities of time, my friend surprised me with a rhetorical question, "Where does time go?"

THE REALITY OF TIME
Thomas Mann says, “Time has no divisions to mark its passage. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.

Yes, time is a man-made concept for conveniently marking historical events, measuring duration, and scheduling day-to-day activities. It evolved from man's observation of nature's cycles and seasons. Ancient astronomers and astrologers took the 365 days it takes the earth to revolve around the sun to signify a year. Following this logic, time has to be a variable factor relative to a planet. Thus, a year in Jupiter is determined by how long it takes to revolve around the sun, and so on with other planets.

Time, too, is arbitrary. The Roman calendar is different from the Chinese lunar calendar and other religious calendars. The Romans elected the birth of Christ as the major demarcation point (BC is before the birth of Christ and AD, all the years after). The months July and August were reportedly added at the egotistical decree of the Roman emperors Julius and Augustus Caesar.

MORE REALITIES ABOUT TIME
Everyone on earth, rich or poor is given the same 24 hours in a day. (This is one of the few instances of the fairness of the universe.) Carl Sandburg says, "Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.
Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." Yes, we've heard it said that time is gold; and you can spend it but not save it. And even if you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra second. Time keeps moving forward and you can't make it stand still (except poetically, of course).

Here's another perplexing peculiarity of time. How long a minute depends on which side of the toilet door you are at. Henry van Dykes writes: "Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."

KILLING TIME AND OTHER MYTHS
How often we hear people say, "Oh, I'm just killing time." Alice Bloch retorts, "We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves."

We keep complaining that we don't have time. H. Kackson Brown advises," Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

Benjamin Franklin says: "Lost time is never found again." With utmost respect to Mr. Franklin, I believe that we could not actually lose time; we lose the opportunity. And it's really hard to find time; we must make time.

If we can't buy a kilo, lose, or extend time, what can we do with it?

We can manage it, Peter F. Drucker warns, "Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed."

SO WHERE DOES TIME GO?
When my friend asked, "If time keeps on rushing forward, where does it go?" I actually laughed and cut short the discussion. But the question haunted me all night. For how do you answer such an enigmatic question? Time rushes; yes, but where to? The question triggered other logical things like, "If it goes somewhere, it must come from somewhere."

The truth is that time is actually on a different dimension. It travels on the time plane that sort of runs parallel to the physical or material plane. It is unlimited to a linear movement and only flies from the past to the present and hurries to the future. Now, this is where man differs from time. Man can live in the present, imagine the future, and re-live the past! Through his imagination, man can travel to different time zones.

I venture to answer this way: Time goes to the future but part of it settles in the hearts and minds of people as remembered feelings and memories of that particular moment.

THE GIFT OF TIME
Three of the best gifts you can ever give or receive are love, knowledge, and time. Here's a touching story forwarded by Elizabeth Reyes.

What's most important in life…
It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College girls, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.

Over the phone, his mother told him, "Mr Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday." Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days. "Jack, did you hear me?" "Oh sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him. I'm sorry but I honestly thought he died years ago," Jack said. "Well, he didn't forget you. Every time I saw him he'd ask how you were doing," Mom told him. "I loved that old house he lived in," Jack said. "You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man's influence in your life," she said. "He's the one who taught me carpentry," he said. "I wouldn't be in this business if it weren't for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important…mom, I'll be there for the funeral," Jack said.

As busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser's funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away. The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time. Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step had memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture…Jack stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong, Jack?" his mom asked. "The box is gone," he said. "What box?" Mom said. "There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was the thing I value most," Jack said. It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. "Now, I'll never know what was so valuable to him," Jack said. "I better get some sleep. I have an early flight home, Mom. "It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died, Returning home from work one day, Jack discovered a note in his mailbox.”Signature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next three days," the note said.

Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention." Mr. Harold Belser" it read.

Jack took the box out to his car and ripped open the package. Inside were the gold box and an envelope. Jack's hands shook as he read the note inside.

"Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It's the thing I value most in life," A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, as tears filled his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box, There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch, Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unhitched the cover.

Inside he found these words engraved "Jack, thanks for your time!-
Harold Belser."

"The thing he valued most…was…. My time."

Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days. "Why?" Janet, his assistant asked. "I need some time to spend with my son," he said. "Oh, by the way, Janet…thanks for your time!"

By Doro Pedero
Living Alive
October 24, 2004

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