Time

Now, different cultures have different views of time, and that's alright. But in the particular Mennonite/German culture I'm in, time is a commodity. I really can't speak to the Latin American culture, the African culture, and some of those that seem much more laid back, so I won't.


In my particular subculture, time is a commodity. People speak of "giving time" and that "time is sometimes more valuable than money" and all that. So it is something that is possessed, and can be given. Obviously. But there is an extension to that that I haven't heard spoken about much. Something that can be given can also be taken. Unless it is something like love, or even hate, or advice, or something like that, that doesn't exist until it is given.


Time, however, can be taken. If you are put in prison, your time is not your own, it is disposed of largely by another person or group of people. The reason for this is that the government believes you have shown yourself incapable of using your time nondetrimentally.


But I want to take another aspect of it. So if you are compelling someone to do something other than what they would choose to do on their own, you are stealing your time. And if time is indeed more valuable than money, (and it seems likely to me that it is, given that you only have a limited quantity, and cannot increase that amount) then a person stealing time is more a criminal that a person stealing money.


Scenario: a preacher is allotted (as is often the case) 45 minutes to preach. It is a small church, the attendance is 40. The preacher is feeling extra frisky that morning, and goes 5 minutes overtime. He has taken 5 minutes from each of those 40 people, and allotted it to himself. That isn't a lot from any single person, but if a money thief would steal $5 from each person it wouldn't be much either. But he'd still end up stealing $200. And the preacher still ended up stealing 200 minutes, or 3 hours 20 minutes.


Other scenario: a group is planning to go on a trip of a few hours, and plans to meet at 7:00. Some are there early. They get there 6:50, or 6:55. That is their choice. They voluntarily give 5 or 10 extra minutes to make sure they are on time. But it is a group of 10, and one person is 5 minutes late. He just stole 5 minutes that were not given him from the other 9 people. He stole 45 minutes.


The money thief isn't actually that bad. He only stole money, and could give it back. The time thief is far worse. He stole something more valuable, and cannot even return it.


As I said in the beginning, different cultures have different views of time, and I'm not saying that those cultures who are constantly late, and have that sort of mindset are wrong. Time is not a commodity to them. To us here, it is. And we should either stop voluntarily stealing it from each other, or somehow change our idea of time. (Which, btw, is nearly, and possibly entirely, impossible.)


Thank you for giving me more time than I deserve.


Au revoir.