The World of No Time

In our world, there is no time. Well, of course there is time but we don’t keep track of time. We don’t have any clocks or calendars or any such things. We judge things by their value, when they’re ready, and frankly, I can’t imagine arranging the world differently. Let me explain how this works.

When a woman is pregnant, we don’t count the days and weeks for how long she is pregnant. When the child is ready, he will come out. By the way her stomach feels the woman will know how far along she is and can she feel when the child will come.

Again, when the child is ready for it, he will go to school and then for as long as is needed. Some children have learned all they want to learn in a shorter time than others, but that is fine. Why would you keep a child in school when he has learned all he wanted to learn? It’s better to let him go out into the world, make himself useful. Because of course we do have a system of work, but again, it’s not based on time. You go to work and you do the amount of work that you have agreed upon with your supervisor. I don’t think it would be useful to force someone to stay at work for a certain amount of time. Some days you just don’t feel like working and no matter how hard you try, nothing comes out of your hands. Should you force a person like that to stay at work? It’s better to go home then and come back the next day and do twice the amount of work you would have been able to do the day before.

When people get married, they don’t get married for eternity. They are asked whether they want to spend their lives together and this commitment lasts for as long as they want. You cannot force someone to stay with a person for the rest of their lives they felt was the right person at age twenty. People change and the need for a partner changes as well. Most couples do stay together since we do know what love is, but some couples separate and that’s perfectly fine. We live now, in a world that is here now and we should not be hampered by choices we made as teenagers.

We have a system of money, but that’s only for things like paying rent and buying groceries. When you need a service of someone, like getting your house painted, it’s better to do something else in return. Everyone has a talent, so there’s always something you can offer what the other person needs.

Of course this sounds all very idyllic. Unfortunately, it is not. We do have crime. Whenever someone is found guilty of a crime, we confront him with the person he offended. For some people, that is enough punishment in itself. The victim, or someone close by if the victim is unable to do this, explains how the actions of the perpetrator have influenced his life, depending on the scope of the crime of course. This usually evokes a lot of feelings of guilt and remorse. If it doesn’t, or if the crime was of such nature that it can’t be repaired with just a confrontation, we banish the criminal. He is then forced to leave society. We give him a piece of land out in the country with a small cabin on it. That way it’s like solitary confinement, but they’re able to take care of themselves. Every once in a while a specialist comes by to talk to them and judge whether they’re ready to get back into society. If this doesn’t work and for the very heinous crimes we have a death sentence. We’re not proud of it, but that’s the only way for us to keep our society safe. We don’t believe in taking away someone’s freedom. How can you better your life when you’re locked up in a cell? That doesn’t automatically make a person better. I’m not saying farming out in the country does, but at least you’re at work then and your life has a goal even if it’s something simple as having to work for your food or else you’re hungry.

So is our world better than one with clocks? I don’t know, I can only speak for myself. In our world, things get judged by how they look, how they are, whether they’re ready or not. We live now. We try not to make our choices in the past influence our very present. Mistakes have been dealt with and are no longer talked about. I can’t imagine what it would be like to run around all day looking at a tiny clock bound to my wrist. I am here now. Will I be here tomorrow? I don’t know, but at least I know I’ve lived a good life today.