Tag: language

It’s a stopwatch, not a hackable computer

I can look at the time, tell you the time, or ask about the time.

I can’t give you time, in fact, you can’t give yourself time.

Time is a constant. Therefore, no one “owns” it.

Then why do we say things like “give me time?”

We say that because it’s shorthand for “tell me how long you need and I’ll calculate how much priority based on a million other factors and make it reasonable, please.”

Makes sense, because that’s a mouthful.

What is worrisome is “I don’t have time.” This concept of you not “having time” isn’t true, except in extreme circumstances*. We are all running the same clock. We don’t know how long that clock is going to run. No one can give you more of it.

Using language like that also takes away your agency. You are not responsible with how you use time; you just weren’t given enough.

The key to all of this, I think, is to think about time as a stopwatch. On this stopwatch, there is no start and stop button, and since it’s one of those mechanical types, no in and out or vulnerability to “hack.”

It just runs.

And it’s up to you to figure out what you want to do with it.

*Terminal disease, execution, etc.