“This thing devours all: Birds, beasts,tress, flower; Gnaws irons, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays kings, ruins town; And beats high mountains down.”  This is perhaps the best quote which illustrates the greatness of time. Time comes and goes secretly. It has no sound nor strength yet does the most significant deeds.

In the movie, In Time, time is money. The development of technology allowed the humans to stop growing old at the age of 25. Once one becomes 25, one’s ‘clock’ starts. Each are given one year to live and when the time runs out, they die. The movie conveyed many minor themes such as the inhumane aspects of the world and the discrepancy between the rich and the poor. Yet its central idea revolved around the ‘importance of time’. People’s struggle to earn more time is ultimately depicted in the movie. The people living in the ghettos live day-today earning ‘a day per day’. They beg for mercy to the others to donate time and even fight over it. In contrast, the lives of the wealth are completely different. They store their time in banks, earn interest and acquire almost-permanent immortality. Most of them do not bother to work, rather they waste their priceless time on extreme extravagances and gambling. Through this the director intended to emphasize that one should spend his/her time wisely for time is priceless; however, there can always be a ‘twist and turn’ of perspective.

In Time well depicts how people change depending on how much time they have left. People in the ghetto, those who lack time, are busy. They always work. People in the wealthy zone, those whose time is abundant, are indolent. This is parallel to the real world. Suppose there are two students: Student A and Student B. Student A has only a day to finish her 20 page essay while Student B has a whole month to write it. Student A will be desperate to finish her assignment thus she will be very diligent for the day. She will do research, read articles and write 20 pages within the 24 hours. On the other hand, Student B goes home and will most likely forget about his assignment. He knows that he has plenty of time until the due date and thus become lazy. Like this, time changes people’s behavior and thus their actions. The amount of time left determines people’s attitude towards their duties and in the long run their whole lives.

One only figures out about the important thing around them when their time has ran out. When one is a child, they do not realize the importance of the things around them. They believe that they still have many chances left to be good and kind to the others for their ‘deadlines’ lie far ahead. It is only when that child grows old to an elderly that they acknowledge the importance of things around them. Then they start to regret for the things that they did not do. It is because, the short amount of time to spend in this world makes them more important.

This runs on the similar lines with how the supply and the demand work to determine market prices in the free market: The lower the supply and higher the demand forms higher prices; Higher supply and lower demand forms lower prices. For this case, supply can be interpreted as time, demand as age and price as importance. Here, age is compromised of various categories such as wisdom, knowledge and memories, the things that can only be obtained as time passes. The more time and less age one has, the more unaware one is about the importance of things. The less time and more age, the more one acknowledges about the importance of things. When their ‘deadlines’ are closer, people know that not much time(supply) is left to see, hear, taste, laugh and even cry. The scarcity of their chances make them realize all the things they have taken for granted which are usually the signs of being alive. Most people prefer to undergo unpleasant events through living rather than escaping pain through death. For if they live, at least they will have time to return to the ‘happier moments'; however, being dead, that does not provide any hopes nor second chances.

If the free-market is our world, time is the invisible hand. Time is nowhere to be seen. People seldom believe that their ‘ultimate time’ will come to an end. In the world(free-market), people are free. They are free to choose, free to speak and share their ideas. People use their time differently and get different results. Some become rich, some remain poor, some earn fame and some lose honor. yet regardless of their social and financial status, time all leads them to a deadline. Gradually time leads everyone to a certain sport as the invisible hand controls the orders of the free-market. Only one thing is different. The invisible hand leads to different outcomes depending on the circumstances but time always leads everyone to the same destination: death. This is why time is fair.

Time is the Rubicon River. Once crossed, no more comebacks. Time has no mercy. What has been done is done and cannot be undone. Yet, time is equal to everyone. It provides everyone with the same amount of time, 24 hours a day, and it is up to you to decide how to spend it. Spend your time wisely. Because although time is fair, the world is not; however, one thing is for sure: The world gives advantage to the ones who understand the importance of time.