Is Time Your Currency?

Two days ago I watched the movie “In Time“. Since Daniela (10 month old daughter) arrived I have not been going to the movies as often as I did previously and the previous movie I watched in a theater was months ago when I went to see Bridesmaids.

I went into the movie not knowing much about it. Other than the interview I saw on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show days ago with Justin Timberlake I had not read or heard much about the movie. I also included the video of the History of Rap 3 Remix/Skit they did.

Great Intro

The start of the movie pretty much lays out key factors, which will help you understand the rest of the movie. The theme of the movie is that Humans stop aging at age 25 and from there on they are given one year of life. The only issue is that time is currency so people can use that one year as they like shortening their time or increasing it by working for more time.

One Year To Live after 25

Justin Timberlake who plays “Will Salas” lives in the Ghetto where time is one of the scarcest resources available. Everyone in the Ghetto has depleted their time or works heavily on a day-by-day basis to make sure they can extend their lives. People can buy more time by spending their time on other tasks that is controlled by those few key players in the time economy.

People with very little time are always running everywhere to make the most of the time they have left. Since time is of essence they make sure they use it as best as possible given the circumstances that are given.  Those living day by day are constantly trying to figure out how to make it to the next.

Time Keepers

The timekeepers are sort of police like characters that are keeping control of where time should be allocated. This is very similar to how police are given enough to make ends meet but usually protect the well being of those that have lots of abundance let it be time or money. Last year here in Puerto Rico we saw how are local government decided to protect the well being of a few by hurting pacific protestors.

This year we see the same all around the U.S. where protestors are getting hurt because they are protesting on how the high level executives of banks play with the economy and don’t seem to get affected. Meanwhile the ones that are risking their lives to keep control of the crowds are those TIme Keepers or policemen how probably live on a day by day basis.

Minutemen

As in every scenario there are always bad guys that keep control of everyone. These are left alone by the Time Keepers and the key players of the economy because they make sure to deplete people’s time while taking advantage of them. When the minutemen take time away from people those individuals are even more committed to do anything to recover the time they lost. We see how in our lives and our worlds there are many individuals that deplete our resources and time but are untouchable.

No matter what they do wrong the governments seem to leave them alone and run rampant to continue to create a sense of not having enough. When people feel they need more they become more vulnerable at doing anything to refresh resources or get new ones? Minutemen lurk around us in many forms and places as bankers, doctors, pharmaceuticals, lawyers, accountants, fast food places and politicians.

Some of them create a need that benefits a select few and since those select few already are very powerful they become untouchable for long periods of time. Minutemen can be very destructive around us but at least in the movie you could easily identify them in the real world they are much more hidden.

Everyone Wants To Have More Time, More Money, More and More of Everything

As human beings many are so committed to having more. I can speak from my experience how I ended up wanting more and more. I consider myself to be a person that wants equality and likes to share but I have to admit that I fell into a place where I wanted neat, new, and expensive things. I bought myself a Luxury Convertible Sports Car, A Bigger than Needed House (although an apartment would have served us well), Country Club Membership, and Gambled more than I should have, and many other things wanting more. I never forgot to take care of those around me but looking back I learned many lessons from making those bad decisions and depleting my resources when there was abundance.

Instead of Wanting More Time I make the Best of Time

Instead of wanting a new car and many other things I try to make the best of my time with my family and friends. I try to live a very simple life keeping costs to a minimum so I am less of a slave to the banks, their loans, and the rest of the key players of the economy. At one moment I was up to my head in debt and I still am. The difference is I have learned to make the best of my time and live with what I have.

I am lot happier and similar to the movie instead of running to get what I need I try to move precisely to get to where I want to be. My priorities are very different to what they where 2, 3, or 5 years ago.

So how much time do you have left?

Everyone in the movie had a watch, which told him or her when their time was expiring unless they had an incident, which made them expire before time. We all don’t know how much longer we will be here. So we need to make the best of our time.

A movie, which I walked in with a bit of curiosity made me walk out refreshing in my mind many lessons I have experienced. In the last few years where I have been struggling with many things I learn every day where to allocate my energy and establish better priorities.

Although I did let go or in cases lose some of the material things this movie helped me realized that I did the right thing in finding time to do what I love and follow my passion. I am finding time to be with my love ones and would spend any resources to make sure I make the best of my time with them.

How are you using your time? If you are reading this you might be “In Time” to make the best of it?