Time: Our precious resource

This past weekend I found myself being caught between two time zones. I attended a wedding on Saturday and a traditional wedding on Sunday. I am one of those people that care about my time and how I spend it.  

This came from years ago, when I hated people stereotypically linking my “lateness” to my ethnicity. So I have made it a good habit to keep time. I’m of the belief that, if you arrive fifteen minutes early for an occasion….you on time. If you arrive on the prescribed time as per invite…you are late. 

Armed with this time keeping weaponry, I arrived half an hour early at the church on Saturday. The church gate was opened; normally that’s a good sign. I even managed to find parking under a tree. Perfect! So 10am came-the wedding ceremony’s prescribed starting time of which there were only about six people. And someone, please tell that guy who keeps saying “Testing! One! Two!” to keep it down, we are having a wedding here. Tick-tock! Tick-tock…it’s now 10h05…the very same six people are still here. Mmh! Fine I’ll just log onto to Facebook, while I wait. 

Eventually, people started arriving. Now, if you are like me and you know that you are pressed for time, there’s no better place to sit, than at the back. Here, you can slip away as if you are answering an emergency phone call…and make a more respectable exit. If I read the invite properly and I did, it clearly stated that, the wedding will start at 10 am. It’s now 11h04. I just killed an hour outside, under a tree…in the car…on Facebook. You can imagine how angry I was by the lack of respect from those who didn’t arrive on time…like me. That was Saturday! 

I must be really naïve or insane, because I was convinced that Sunday was going to be different. It was ground-hog day all over. The traditional wedding started late and on both occasions, only one person kept time. No, it’s not me…it was the photographer. Yes, as a bloke, I’ll admit, both weddings were perfect when they eventually got going. 

Seeing how people were having a time of their lives…I couldn’t help question “My Swiss made, Rolex standard, Breitling reliability, Tag Heuer punctual, high horse attitude.” How is it that a rural boy, who was raised with African values of respect, community participation, can be so self-absorbed and utterly selfish about something as meaningless as the ticking of a clock? 

So what if you arrived on time and everyone else “somewhat” arrived late? It’s not about me and my punctuality. It’s about me being asked to stop whatever I’m doing to be part of this union, because without my presence, that union will not be complete in the eyes of the bride and groom. 

In fact, it’s an honour for me to be at this ceremony, as opposed to the couple being honoured by my arrogance and misplace “time” values. When did I get so snobbish? When did I get so righteous about time keeping? When did I become so blatantly disrespectful, to the elders who had to be transported by buses and taxis and have taken their precious time, some in frail condition and travelled across country, just to be here? While, I had to drive only 30 kilometres in a state of the art Jaguar that has climate control, sunroof, and all the luxuries…and here I am BITCHING about time! Seriously? Not to mention that I didn’t offer none of them a lift, to or from the two wedding. Is my head really that far up my you know what, that I can recite my entire diet menu from last week?

In my entire lifetime, I have never been so ashamed of my actions.  African time is not about being “fashionably late”. It’s about being part of something timeless, something bigger than you! If you have somewhere else better to be either than where you have been honorary invited to then by all means, go there. Do not bring your high standards and values about time, you are highly likely going to offend people…culturally.