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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Time Changes Yesterday...


What does that statement mean? As I sat with my friend at Muri Okunola park in Victoria Island yesterday, enjoying the bliss of a national public holiday, and we talked on life’s bogging issues, how kids are so unruly and immodest, how everyone tries to sound politically correct and no one wants to appear judgmental, etc, I made a comment “Time Changes Yesterday”. I tend to say this a lot. I recall reading the novel called Time Changes Yesterday in JS3 (junior secondary 3) but i can’t recall what the story line was about, save for it being a tale of love. Then I asked myself out loud, what does it mean to say time changes yesterday? How can yesterday, the past, be changed? How can occurrences of the past be altered? Or does it refer to the present, or the future? Time changes yesterday…………..

Then it hit me. What is time? Time is continuous. Time is evolving. Time is yesterday, today and tomorrow. I’ll tell us some definitions from the dictionary. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary time is:
                                                                         
1 a : the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues : duration b : a non spatial continuum that is measured in terms of events which succeed one another from past through present to future

2: the point or period when something occurs: occasion

3 a : an appointed, fixed, or customary moment or hour for something to happen, begin, or end <arrived ahead of time>b : an opportune or suitable moment. (These are just some of the definitions of time)

Time is synonymous with actions, occurrences, events etc. There’s a symbiotic relationship between time and events, they can be said to be mutually inclusive or dependent events, the occurrence of one depending on the other. So when it is said that time changes yesterday, it simply means that the evolving of events over time have changed the outcome of today. Simply put, what used to be, no longer is. Examples: virginity is not as common as it used to be, fashion is not as conservative as it used to be, women are no longer required to keep their mouths shut and not have an equal say, women are no longer relegated to a designation as housewives, children are no longer as respectful as they used to be, propriety in dressing to church is no longer what it used to be, TV is no longer as censored as it used to be, movies are no longer as educating as they used to be, schools are no longer safe havens for children, when away from home, as they used to be, even leaving the kids at home in the care of the nannies is no longer safe, couples no longer need to be of the opposite sex, technology is no longer dated etc.. The list is endless… Notice how the examples cited here have a negative connotation? Well that’s because that’s predominantly the type of change that has occurred over time. The world and its inhabitants have bent to suit their own desires and meet their own needs. It’s no longer about what is right and acceptable its now about what is self-gratifying. How do we deal with time changing yesterday? Going with the trend or standing for what is right? Answer for yourselves… I know my own answer.

Time indeed has changed yesterday. Time has changed what today should have been. Maybe in the future we’ll no longer say time changes yesterday but rather time is now. That’s what counts at the end of the day.

PS: A prize goes to anyone who can tell me the author of “Time Changes Yesterday” and where to buy the book in Lagos! 

Till i write again...

Chinny :)

3 comments:

  1. Time changes yesterday...by Nyengi Koin!!! I won!
    Lol, I do remember the book though, Kofoworola Odu and Enitan...read it in secondary school. I had to google the author sha...wink wink! Lovely article, definitely worth a second thought.

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  2. Meckzy! U cheated :-P... No prize for you ;)

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