Time

I am intrigued by the notion of time. We hear a lot about it and certainly pay a lot of attention to it. Time is relative. Time heals all wounds. Love in the Time of Cholera. What time is it?

In high school Spanish, I learned that while Americans run late, Spaniards walk late and their watches walk on time or not. Yo anduvo tarde. (Although looking up the verb andar, I see that it can mean "to go" as well as "to walk." Nonetheless, "I'm going late" vs. "I'm running late" still has a different feel to it.)

A few years ago, I did a project involving time zones for work, and found out all sorts of interesting things. In the US, every state observes Daylight Savings Time, except Hawaii and Arizona, except for the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Time zones the world over are full of exceptions. Check out Indiana. In 2005, several Indiana counties moved to Central Time; the rest of them are on Eastern Time. I heard reports that some people who lived on the border of those counties had trouble when suddenly the place they worked and the school their kids went to were in different time zones. That's just nuts.

What I love most about time zones is the thought of people arguing about what time it is. Imagine politicians and farmers and whoever else passionately debating about how we should all set our clocks. It's pretty absurd to have a strong opinion about something as intangible as what time it is (or should be) right now. On the other hand, it's entirely practical. The combination makes me giggle.

I was reminded of all this today by my friend Nancy. She wrote an article about time, a subject she enjoys even more than I do. Nancy has traveled and lived in Africa, which came as a shock to her after growing up in New York City. It's a good read; I recommend it. Oh, and as a bonus for you Linux users out there, the article includes a definition of the word "Ubuntu."

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