ሩህ ሚዲያ – Ruh Media

By: Habtamu Girma

Introduction

To signify the power of time for much of twists and turns in the life of people, one Amharic saying goes, ‘brave is time, not man’. The saying is so wise that it carries a lot to explain plenty about happenings in our world today at large and the life of each of us in particular, as the corollary of the message it supposed to portray spark the following: Time being key variable for a particular idea to flourish or fade, how important is conceptualizing it in a drive to a better life? Why time is such powerful variable to explain our life in the past, present and future? This piece is motivated to address these quests.

Time Concept

Understanding the concept of time entails making a probe into its makeups, also on how to designate it. The two are inalienably intertwined to form a system which we call it time concept. Therefore, conceptualizing time means making a diagnosis and hence characterizing those two integral parts. Essentially, time and space concepts are similar in that their beginnings and ends are stretched limitless, hence both are understood in relative terms as their nature necessitates a benchmark or reference. To designate one space (place) from the other, we need a physical body standing (that may take creations of nature or human made). Likewise, to differentiate one time from the other, we need to consider the happenings or incidents associated with a particular time of our interest. In lieu of that, time has three dimensions: past, present and future. As there is no gap between the three time dimensions, there is no distinct line to differentiate between time spans. The line of demarcation is accompanying happenings or incidents.

Why Time Matters?

Understanding the concept of time is a wisdom for it has a number of implications to define our life in many respects. First, it connotes that they are people who make time. Second, it shows how and why decision making by people at different time spans are interdependent. Third, as a reflection of the second, it emphasizes us the importance of history critical to understand our present and foretell our tomorrow. Fourth, understanding the power of time implicates the importance of probing into the decision making behaviors of people.

Who makes time?

Who makes time is clear- they are people! It is the decision made by us at one point in time that result into a particular event felt (experienced) at any period: past, present or future. We cannot disentangle time concept from people as incidents or happenings are the products and/or reflections of decisions made by people in their times. As it is incidents (happenings) were embodied within the time, so does the continuity of happenings associated with each fraction of times. Hence, happenings in the past, present or future are inalienably chained. Those happenings may take a category of either social, economic, political, peace, security or any.

How Time Conditions the Decision Making Behavior of People?

Time is such a powerful variable to twist and turn our life is because it explains why and how the decision making behaviors of people changes, by implicating into the ones evaluative and imaginary power. In this regard, with time progresses the three ingredients behind ones decision making - perception, expectation and level of understanding on life happenings - changes. Given we are ready to learn from life, as the day passes, we experience multiple factors that would alter our conceptions on life. As the day counts, it is highly likely for one to get exposure to different instruments of learning that changes the way sh/e perceives and understand life in general. With time progressing, we learn from our families and our environment, through formal schooling, or experience different people and cultures. Time showing us the present via the image of yesterday, it endow us that wisdom to understand why and how history matters. As a reality of the 21st Century, technology is progressing such fast as a clocks ticks, with day in and day out the medium for learning is widening, to make ignorance a choice.

Time Concept Defines Value System and Institutions

One aspect of the power of time is it shapes the two interrelated elements: the value system and institutions. The two are critical to shaping the decision making behavior of people, hence to define the time. By implicating into the nature, structure and performance of institutions of wider importance for their wellbeing to affect their material and/or spiritual (emotional or affect) positions today or in the future, time is very important variable that shapes the value systems. Moreover, with time changing, institutions change as value systems also likely to change. Hence, understanding time is key to understand today, and foretell how life will have held in days to come. 5.6. Time Concept – Gives that Wisdom to Understand ‘Why History Matters’ Our time yesterday-our history-is not a simple past. The essence of history is to recollect us our images in gone days so as to shape our today and foretell the future. Time concept tells us what, how and whys about our present. Indeed, to learn on our world today requires to recollect on what happened yesterday, to refer historical records. By many accounts, todays global political landscape likens what was on the eve of the Second World War (1939-1945). Today, those ideas like nationalism, anti-Semitism and populism that were responsible for turning our world into turmoil some eight decades ago seems to have ‘resurrected’ from their ‘grave’. The fact that those rhetoric that has resulted the world into greatest tragedies of humanity in modern history, like the Jewish Holocaust and Second World War (1935-1941), is seemingly forgotten. On the other hand, those precious ideas that brought warring countries together to cooperation, bringing about peace and prosperity in the past eight decades are fading or losing importance. Looking carefully what is going on in our world today appears not only the merits of those ideas is overlooked, but also the price paid to acquire them is cheapened, as we failed to learn from history.
As was experienced in 1920s and 1930s, it was the malfunctioning of capitalism which was responsible for economic injustices (inequalities) and financial crisis which resulting the infamous Great Depressions of 1930s. In the last decade of so too, our world has travelled the same path. With the unregulated financial capitalism in major world power, U.S.A. to resulting a financial crunch first, turn into an economic crisis in subsequent years since 2008. In those years of struggle to come out of the Great Depressions and consequent economic and political woes, there emerged populists and nationalists to win the hearts and minds of people, as was to the landslide victories in a democratic elections in respective countries. That is how Hitler, with its concept of Nazism, and Benito Mussolini with his Fascism, came into state power considered by polities as ‘healers’. In recent months our world witnessed the rise of nationalist and populist groups and perplexing personalities advocating those agendas, the likes of Donald J. Trump, Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen, who won at least in their own ways. The issue in 1930s and 40`s was multilateral organization failed to function, with member states reluctant to abide by the binding rules or charters they approved inked a sign. Hence, those powerful nations were rose against the weaker ones. A typical example is how the League handled the dispute between Ethiopia and Italy, which it failed to stop the injustices against Ethiopia, as the then ruler of Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie I said it well in his historic speech in front of the world leaders in June 1936.
Today, agencies or organization for collective actions and cooperation on brink of collapse. For instance, there are growing signs for Continental Organizations and the United Nations are facing similar fate, where they are losing the commitment and confidence from member states, to the erosion of the very pillars of their existence. Bilateral and multilateral agreements for broader causes are risking a dysfunction too.
All that making our future tough to predict, the dire consequences is mushrooming at present, with the worst is seemingly yet to come. What is the way out then-should the world think the best and prepare for the worst? Definitely No! The solution lies in understanding the time concept. In this regard, worth remembering is ‘they are people who make time’. That appeals by and large to citizens belonging to major global powers holding the steer to drive the world, whose decisions goes beyond their respective borders to affect the fate of the whole world to be bright or bleak, of all humanity at present or in the future.