Time.

Time is a unique thing. We only get so much of it at start, where newborns are the millionaires and by our teenage years, we only slowly begin to realize our spending habits. We soon begin to cherish the times we spend with loved ones and friends, for there is no access to a bank statement telling you how much you have left as much as the next person.

In such economic struggles that we have all been disturbed by, some individuals still continue to spend time as though it is an infinite resource. This even comes down to wasting the time of others. What is so unique about this universal currency is that you can neither take or steal one's currency and add it to yourself directly.

With that, I spend most my time in my room with the humming of my computer, surrounded virtually by what friends I have. Sometimes I listen to Volume Alpha but mostly when trying to sleep, my other common activity. I try to plan things out carefully so that I can attend to as much as I can possibly deal with, but I've always tried to set time aside for family ordeals. The difference between dealing with friends and dealing with family is it seems family prefers to waste while friends seem to show more honest regret in unfortunate situations.

My sister has been back from her college now in winter vacation, and no advice I had given her she has taken, even some advice not originally from myself. I always remind her that we should get things squared away before she leaves where she will only forget again. She gives me a day and I agree. I set that day aside for her alone.

She was never at the house that day. 24 hours wasted.

"Saturday, I'll do it on Saturday." I calmly wait again and dismiss the prior day.

Again, she did not come that day. 48 hours wasted.

My patience is now very thin from all the opportunities I have sacrificed for nothing. Like a puppet on a string, I sit at my desk of harmonic hums and wait for the next day.

These now nearing 72 hours are things I cannot ask for back in any form of payment. Money in a bank is but a temporary thing that will slowly reach nothing soon, but time is the one thing to always know you have only so much of, and what you spend it on is what makes the story of your life and others change. Just because you are fearful of losing your next paycheck or the money left over in your savings, the one bank that always will have something is the one of time.

So if someone asks if they can help you, answer them seriously, because it is in their expense to save you on time, for which neither of you can get back again.

-Flame