2004-03-29 -
9:53 p.m.
Time
Time has always fascinated me. From clocks to moments to physics I love the concept of time. Time management has been a real stickler since when I concentrate, I step outside of time and it has no meaning. I think this particular facet of my mind has only enhanced my obsession with time.
In metaphysics class in college, I was taught that time is only a hypothetical construct; that the concept of time varies from culture to culture. I am aware, for instance, that time in Mexico is different from time in the US – not by the clock, but by the internalization of it: How our bodies feel time. I believe the Mexican experience of time is a more natural, less stressful relationship than we have here.
Time on the Internet is another reality in itself. :)
When I was a little girl, my father took me on a bonding expedition. He knew I enjoyed fishing as did he. We left in the dark and arrived in the pre-dawn. A misty world of soft gray-blue enveloped our little boat. It felt as if we were floating outside of time. It felt magical.
I remember wondering where time had gone. I tried to feel it. Curious, I asked how long we would be here. I wanted to see what the time felt like in this place. My father misunderstood. He thought I wanted to go home and told me in very certain terms that he knew I would do that. I never explained what I meant. It seemed pointless as the magic was gone.
When I had children of my own, I taught them about time. Over the years, I had developed a great sense of time. I could tell time by the position of the sun before Daylight Savings Time…now I can do it for only half the year. I can tell 10, 20, 30, 60 minute intervals without a clock. I’m usually within a minute of the correct time. So when my children wanted to go play in the park, I told them to be home in ˝ hour. “But Mom, how will we know when that is? There are no clocks in the park!’ I said “Just come home when it feels like ˝ hour.” They were back in fifteen minutes. “Are we late?” We laughed. It had turned into a game.
The demise of clock faces has taken much of the fun out of telling time. The inexhorable movement of the hands around the dial is a challenge and a comfort. There’s a consistency in it that makes time a visual thing.
Today, we set our internal clocks by television programs, by the events in our lives. The digital clocks have robbed us of “telling” time. We are now told time.
