Ukrainian time thoughts

Ukrainian time

Frankly speaking, it’s difficult to imagine time as certain substance, because we can’t touch, hear, see it. So it is more like some conventional measure with modules signified in seconds, minutes, hours… It turns out, that time is the most common abstraction in the modern world without which no rational human existence is possible.

Since time is abstraction views on it differs from person to person. It depends on variety of factors, such as ethnic group, religion, age, education and upbringing, social level, sex, intelligence and even temperament. To get the more or less picture of Ukrainian time as opposed to American or Oriental, we need to explore what time is for Ukrainian social strata. The first thing to come to mind is students’ life. The mutual relations between student and time keep within the terms of studying. I think, time is the most tangible the night before an exam or during it, or when you are late for your date. In any other cases we pay no attention to it.

Let’s take a schoolboy, an average kid with bristling hair and mischievous look. For him time is likely associated with 8.30 a.m. when he is permanently waking-up by considerate parents.  Or he thinks about time when his favorite cartoon is on.

And what about an old woman living in a Khrushchev building? She lives only in her memories: earlier everything was better than now and tomorrow it will be even worse.  Time here is mortal enemy. The same is with women in their fortieth. They desperately try to kill the time and wrinkles.

The examples seem to be endless. A photographer thinks he catches time by the tail, but in reality he fixes current events and transient moments, an archaeologist trying to dig out a tale which was told, builders erecting structures in secula seculorum…

The other side of the coin is how Ukrainians use time. By contrast with USA we use it ultimately ineffective. But what if the main goal is not money? American way of life turns out to be a complete absurd. Life in balance with Universe and Nature lengthens your dwell in the Earth which means you have more time than any who makes money. Time is money, but money is not time, it can’t buy even a humble second. In my opinion this is pure philosophy, but it was philosophers, who got the idea of the time right. And now it is high time to put forth a question about priorities and aims in our lives. The much talked-about American dream is nothing more than itch for money. Money is the aim. What about Ukrainian dream? Also money or a villa on some beautiful island, or luxurious car, or all that together, but this is not the aim. Our aim can be to beer for a while or repair something. If we are trying to reach to our dream breaking our necks we cease to be Ukrainians. We are unpretentious simple folk, giving - without – return and hospitable people.

 We make use out of time in our own way not trying to deceive it, so time will never betray us. Time treats Ukrainians like children giving us everything necessary for life – not more.

                                                                                                                                           Brodnikova Svetlana

                                                                                                                                                 2011.02.16

Ukrainian Time

Brodnikova Svetlana

 

Today is a smooth white seashell, hold it close and listen to the beauty of the hours.

Anon

In life, men are controlled by time. They are always fighting against it, if time is not seen, man will not be so anxious. Time waits for no man but time surely will make us old men. When we ponder over time we tend to think of the ways in which we measure the passing of time, such as a clock or watch, or perhaps a measured interval of time such as an hour or minute, but not of time itself. So what is time? We perceive time as flowing from the past through the present and into the future. We have memory of past events, but of course no memory of future events. Time provides us with a base line reference point in which events can be placed in order of occurrence, and in this manner we are able to establish that one event occurred before or after another, and this provides us with the so called 'arrow of time'. What I know exactly is that the laws of time are indispensible for the earthmen. Its flow is steady, irreversible, everlasting. Whatever nationality you are, time remains the same matter, so difference is not in time, but in people themselves. People always make time to do the things they really want to do. That is why the Ukrainian time is not specific and extraordinary kind of time, but the way how Ukrainians are conscious of it and deal with it. In my opinion, the main difference between Ukrainian and American current outlook for time consists in totally diverse mentality. For us time is life and is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past. Nothing is as far away as one minute ago, but we are not wasting it (if we are reasonable enough of course). We say that the one who loses Monday loses the week. Americans are more pragmatic and this is not that bad. Time is money. Success depends not only on financial and economic conditions, but on how one can control his time – the most precious heritage ever.

Universal time is equally shared between us. Everyone has his personal time, life and power to create his own destiny. For me time is the biggest mystery and that it is somehow tied into and dependent upon our consciousness. Time exists only in our minds even though its effects are perceived to be everywhere throughout the universe. One must learn to make use of time to its maximum and do not waste precious time. A man may waste ten years and the next ten years may go down to the drain. Have you ever thought of how many years left you have? Time is precious so one must control it well. Use it for working out things that may benefit mankind in the end. Waste it not by idling it. Use it in the right way and you too will gain. Remember with every sunrise and sunset, a day is gone behind you. Even if one cries for it, it will not return. Men may be of high intelligence yet no one can rewind the clock to suit them. Search now as if one may never find. Work now as if one will not work again. In today's society, men tend to slacken and instead of suiting to time, they relax as if there are years and years to come. Estimate the time that you have and contribute every minute if you can. Remember that time is ever on the move and once gone, it will never return. Thus, why should men be so scared of spending more time? For if more time is spent, more work can be achieved. But on the other hand time is too precious to spend it all on work! It goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.

Sometimes I think: why a day has only 24 hours, neither more nor less? We are accustomed to think of a day as a period of 24 hours. However, that definition is a narrow one that only applies to our own planet. A day is the length of time it takes for a planet to complete one rotation on its axis – 360°. Since all of the planets rotate at different speeds, the length of a day on each one differs. Compared to Earth, Mercury has a very long day. A day on Mercury takes 58 days and 15 hours in Earth days. A day on Mercury is only a little shorter than a year on the planet.

Venus is the slowest moving planet. In fact, it is so slow that while the other planets have flattened out at the poles due to the speed at which they spin, Venus has not flattened. Venus has the longest day of any planet in our Solar System. A day on Venus is 243 Earth days. Venus’ day is actually longer than its year. It only takes 224.7 Earth days for the planet to orbit the Sun.

We measure a day on Earth as a period of 24 hours, but it actually takes the planet 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds to rotate on its axis. This measurement is actually called a sidereal day and is the length of time it takes the Earth to come back to the same position relative to the stars. While it seems that we would lose 4 minutes every day, that does not happen because the Earth is also orbiting the Sun.

A day on Mars takes 24 hours 39 minutes and 35 seconds in Earth time. The length of a day is similar to a day on Earth, which is one reason why scientists believed that plants and animals could survive on the Red Planet.

Jupiter is the largest planet, and it also has the shortest day. It takes Jupiter only 9.9 Earth hours to complete a rotation. Because the planet spins so quickly, it is extremely flattened at the poles and bulges out at the equator. The diameter of the equator is 9,300 km bigger than the diameter of the planet’s poles.

The length of a day on Saturn is extremely difficult to determine. It is always harder to determine the length of a day of a gas giant than it is to determine the length of a day of a terrestrial planet. Saturn’s day was measured at 10 hours 39 minutes and 24 seconds in the ‘80s. Then it was measured at approximately 10 hours 45 minutes and 45 seconds. In 2006, astronomers used more advanced equipment to measure the planets ending up with a measurement of about 10 hours and 47 minutes. Some astronomers believe that we will never know how long a day on Saturn is.

A day on Uranus only takes 17 hours 14 minutes and 24 seconds. Since the planet has such an extreme axial tilt (97.8°), it actually rotates on its side.

A day on Neptune lasts 16 hours 6 minutes and 36 seconds in Earth time. One odd thing about Neptune is that different parts of the planet rotate at different speed because the planet is mostly gas. The equator takes a couple more hours to rotate than the average while the poles rotate in about 12 hours.

For me it would be extremely exciting to live on another planet and feel different current of time. But even in the Venus with it longest day and opportunity to make use of spring and reap the harvest or do useful things we would celebrate New Year every day. We remain Ukrainians wherever we are and some smart aliens would wonder why we are taking everything so easy - everlasting weekend. Thanks God we are inhabitants of the Earth.