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Thursday 13 January 2011

Time to Time this Time

There's one thing that I seem to have trouble with that most people do not: the perception of time.

I'm not sure whether it's a problem of my memory not being good enough that assigning events to dates is not as important as remembering the events themselves or is it because I've been analysing grammar so long that I now see time only as Past, Present and Future. Whatever it is, the fact remains that if events do not have a logical connection between them, I won't even remember the sequence in which they occurred.

Ask me about something that happened last week and I won't be able to tell you anything. Sure, I can tell you what happened before now but not last week. The difference is that while most people, at least to me, are able to recall what they did during a specific period, I cannot. It is quite easy for people (like my mum) to call me on having last called them a few months ago while I'm bewildered because it felt like yesterday. Naturally, I understand the time differential between "a few months", "a few weeks" and "a few days ago"... but I simply don't feel it.

Usually, it's not a problem. I write down the deadlines I need and make a plan to get things done in that period. I've become good at managing projects like that but as I've told to one of my acquaintances one day, I simply do not consider the past as important as the future.

While I can see her point about the past being important; that it holds memories of happiness and of our achievements, I cannot see how the past can exist without the future. If we don't go forth to create those happy moments or work on achieving our goals, then the present that we have stagnates us and becomes a dull circular past with nothing of worth.

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