Time Murder!!

Some men do go about killing. No life form is spared their malicious aforethought as they strike with palms and tongue from sun up to sun down. The courts frown on murder with good reason. It is a crime which robs humanity of the talents that a single soul brings into the world.  But yet there be many getting away with murder under narrow night torchlights and sometimes in the day. These are the Time Murders who going about ‘peacefully’ killing time.

There is no great out cry when time gets killed. Time cries with a weak voice while its closest relatives Destiny and Achievement possess feeble vocal cords. For it is in the judicious use of time that Destiny and Achievement finds their voices. They can only proclaim one thing and that is a life well spent.

Some men go about making excuses. Imagine this scenario in the courts.

‘I did not mean to kill time. It was in self -defence for I got attacked with boredom and every human being has the right to defend his cerebral offices from boredom’. Well the prosecutor does not agree.

‘It was premeditated cold blood butchering of time, for reliable witnesses heard you say, ‘Thank God it’s Friday’. You indeed planned to drink it up and throw it up before boredom ever showed up. Diminished responsibility is unacceptable here. Your finger prints are all over the murder weapon and have been there for the three preceding days leading up to the crime. Behold exhibit A, the murder weapon, an empty bottle of whisky’.

The defence attorney and his client discuss in hushed tones and soon announce, ‘Your honour we wish to change our plea from not guilty to guilty, but please reduce the charge to Time Slaughter. I pray that the jury takes into consideration that my client has had no previous offences’.

History is full of murder. Where would the arts and story telling be without it. I once watched a film where over twenty people were shot dead before a single word was spoken. It appears that killing is entwined with entertainment but we don’t call them Murder movies do we? They are Action Movies.

Cain killed Abel, Brutus stabbed Caesar, Curiosity killed the Cat and we all kill time. We do this with purposeless activities that aid the passing away of time. But surely, anyone who aids the passing away of such an important entity deserves punishment. No one really gets away with murder after all. Prison beckons for the lovers of crime.  Take the young lads who don’t read as they should in school but rather take death to time with truancy and drinking. They live out their life sentences in the jails of ignorance and lost opportunities. 

Modus operandi of time murderers

Anything light and easy goes. Drugs, drink, lounging, excessive sleeping and the creation of purposeless activities. When the best use of time and resources for the moment is either unknown or appears to be too arduous and daunting, when the courage to do the needful is lacking, then the moment’s conflict could be neutralised with novel acts to fill up the time. These acts swell to feel up the time available. An example of such creativity is the phenomenon of ‘created disease; for what better way to explain to friends why you have not done anything meaningful in the last two years?

Take Fin the man. He couldn’t be bothered to find a job so he developed a fascination for shoes which lead to an obsession with crocodile skin shoes. Unfortunately he couldn’t afford a pair and began to feel worthless when he wore his leather shoes. A relative bought a pair of crocodile shoes for Christmas and the envy drove him to sadness. However light shone brightly at the end of his tunnel when an uncle died leaving him some money and he was straight to the designer shoe shop. For the first three months he never wore his shoes. He just took selfies with them for his twitter followers.  He finally took them to a party in a bag and on arrival went into the loo and change out of his trainers into his beloved footwear. Unfortunately no one complemented him. Later that night he saw people complimenting a guy in a cheap pair of red trainers that matched the  red T shirt he wore. He felt betrayed and was felt ill. He couldn’t sleep that night. His illness was –Crocodile shoes compliments deficiency syndrome. He spent a lot of months being ill. (Serves him right for aiding and abetting the killing of poor crocodiles for footwear some might say). Illness can be used to explain the passage of time so Fin the man had manufactured one. In return he felt sorry for himself which is a full time job on its own.

The entertainment question

Just how much entertainment does the human brain need each day?  Depending on who you ask, you get answers ranging for thirty minutes to twenty four hours. However entertainment, relaxation and sleep should be rewards for hours of hard work. Resting and merriment not preceded by hard work is merely inflicting death by misadventure on time.

Solutions for the serial time slaughter

The Bible says-Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Learning to value time requires education from a very good teacher. Find yourself one. Putting a high value on time makes one wise.

Invest time, don’t spend it and never kill it or you will end up with tic toc on your hands while the slim US rapper serenades you out of court with- murder was the case.

Babawilly

Dr Wilson Orhiunu

31-7-2014