Simen Lambrecht & Germana Isacco
Belgium, Italy
I grew up in an era where the existence of climate change became a real battle, where fear of terrorism became more important than hunger and poverty and where nationalism rose hand in hand with separatism in fight against generosity.
Still we blame time for it, and I do the same. I wished at times I was born in the golden sixties where everything seemed, dipped in some ignorance, okay and people would buy refrigerators, cars and prefab houses as if they were sold at the candy store. Yet time does not share the blame. We, as people, are responsible of the actions of our peers. And we, the next generation, have to look at the past and realize we need to step up. Be convincing to the lasting generations that climate change is a real problem for our future. That nationalism only creates greed and poverty still kills more people than any terrorist will ever do.
‘I wish I had the time’
We all live in negligence of time. We say too often we don’t have the time to do this or that and ignore the bigger issue behind it. Even before considering it, or trying to make the time, we already fear of losing it. We constantly live in fear of running out of time that we get paralyzed by it. And yet, if we would hold time for what it is, a measurement of life, we could be free from what had bound us before. We could walk again without hurry. Stroll over to things that define us as a person and learn to be at peace with them.
When it comes to time, we are the once in control. We decide how late it is, when we wake up and when we go back to sleep, we decide whether it is righteous to spend a day painting or walk on the beach at sunrise. We own time, and we owe it nothing.
As part of the new generation I face a troubled heritage. Still I won’t blame time for it, we are all the product of our time and I am blessed with the cumulated knowledge of the past. Therefore, I see it as my responsibility to not waist time on searching for the culprit but rather glare at the future and find a path to get us there. Even if time is against us, we can model it after us. Time does not judge, nor does it love or hate or think. We are time, we are all time could ever be.
I found out about this competition on the day of the deadline, and had a full day of work planned. Yet things of importance ask time, and furthermore, deserve it. I know I will finish my work late today and probably will sleep an hour less than I was hoping to. But, is this not a small price to pay for the possible impact these words might have on someone? I would advocate it is. Time is irresponsible, learn to own it.”