“Where your worth is underestimated, your time will be wasted.” ― Gift Gugu Mona
The greatest news I’ve received in a long time is being told that I would receive the gift of time. That seems insignificant when I could have received greater news that could move mountains or be someone’s difference between life or death. As an educator, however, the gift of time is as valuable as receiving a brick of gold.
Those teacher and professor horror stories floating about social media relaying students unprepared for their grade level, students unable to think critically, and unfathomable classroom behaviors are unfortunately quite true. As a present for high testing scores and student growth, my academic institution allowed the instructors and teachers an early dismissal. It isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but after an exhausting day of having students cursing at you, throwing trash on the floor, failing open book tests, and then the curriculum department dumping more work on an already heavy workload, any gift of time is fantastic news. Even if it is only two extra hours.
For Two Extra Hours, I Can Wonder Why Am I Here…
For those extra two hours, I decided to think about why I am here. Why do I walk the soil and concrete, and how do I want to face the unknown that is my future? It is a strange phenomenon to be living through unprecedented times of extreme technological advancements, artificial intelligence, authoritarianism, and the promise of a technology-focused future when (if we are being honest) this future looks nothing like The Jetsons or Back to the Future.
All we wanted were functional flying cars and hoverboards, but instead we received screentime addictions, endless subscriptions and ads, and the promise of financial destruction because AI taking all of what it means to be human is being marketed to us as a good thing. Those pedaling technology at such an extreme rate (such as Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and a harddrive full of others) are so obsessed with overcoming what it means to be human as if technology itself isn’t flawed. Ironically, they want to surpass humanity, while expecting the machine to help them be human. Altman himself confessed that he uses ChatGPT to help him raise his own newborn child. I pity them for being so disconnected from life on the most basic level: understanding another human.
So, why am I here? Honestly, I have no idea. The frightening thing isn’t so much that I cannot figure out my purpose; I have fun experimenting with the possibilities of what I can do, and marveling at my successes and failures. The frightening thing is coming up with a purpose, only for it to be taken away by a machine that devalues the purpose itself.
For Two Extra Hours, I Get To Breathe Air
I can’t count how many times I’ve taught imagery: the imaginative ways that an author describes a place, an individual, or an object using one or more of our very delicate and underappreciated five senses.
I can feel my body breaking down under the stress and pressure from my line of work and the frustrations of my home country. The extra hours helped me breathe the crisp winter air and recalibrate my senses, energy, and goals. It is too easy to drown under the darkness of these circumstances. I can fight a bit longer when I take care of my body and mind. Stress is a silent killer. Rest is a silent cure.
For Two Extra Hours, I Get to Reassess My Worth
My higher ups—whether it is my Department, my Government, Companies, or some members of my Family—tend to underestimate my worth. I am sure yours do too. Philosopher and Poet Gift Gugu Mona once said, “Where your worth is underestimated, your time will be wasted.” My time is waisted chasing algorithms, chasing things I don’t need, chasing so much money for extra things I’ll never use, and sometimes helping students that do not want to be helped. These two extra hours gave me time to sleep and rest the adrenaline putting my blood and muscles into fight or flight mode.
On the outside, I am an academic instructor with two degrees, a cog perpetuating the outdated cycle of K-12 and collegiate curriculums.
On the inside, however, I am an unfamous artist clinging on to as much of the natural world as possible because so much of it has been hidden by capitalism, greed, money, hyper individualism, and fear.
Still, it’s always good news to have the gift of time. I will not spend it on my smartphone.
Cozy Crafting and Art 
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