The Movement of Time

 

The concept of time has fascinated physicians and science fiction authors alike for centuries. According to Marrium Webster, time is “a nonspatial continuum that is measured in terms of events which succeed one another from past through present to future”. We’ve even come up with an equation for it: Time = Distance / Speed. Yet despite its mathematical origins, time seems to be anything but. It is said to speed up, slow down, and even stop - all because of our current emotions. That is because time is decided entirely by our perspective of it.

            We may assign values to it, based on consistent changes such as the earth orbiting the Sun, but our true experience with time is constantly warping in immeasurable ways. Our current emotions act like buttons on a remote, fast forwarding through some events while slowing down to an almost painfully slow pace for others. Once, when traveling outside of the country I got on a bus meant to take my family and I from the airport to our hotel. I wasn’t told how long the bus ride would be and adding the changing time zones left me entirely disoriented. Even today, I am still unsure whether I was on that bus for 1 hour or 3. I wanted the bus ride to go by quickly, so the whole experience seemed to slow down, until I was sure I had been trapped on it for days. 

        Every late start day I am reminded of this. Throughout the whole day all I hear about is how the day seems to be moving even slower than a normal school day. Each period is 15 minutes shorter, yet somehow most of us feel as if 15 minutes have been added. Possibly, this is because during these days we find ourselves constantly checking the clock, wanting the day to move fast - so instead it does the opposite. Time moves differently for each person because we each have a different way of viewing the events unfolding before us. The clock doesn't tell us how it moves, our mind does.