Cultural Perspective on Time

Middle Eastern (Palestinian) Perspective on Time

When examining the middle-eastern perspective on time, it can be generally stated that we are future-oriented when exploring past, present, and future thinking. This is due to the fact that Middle-Eastern families invest a great amount of time thinking about their forthcoming investments, savings, and overall financial preparations, in order to arrange for upcoming accountabilities regarding situating their children in outstanding universities and building flourishing careers for them, assuming they would become either doctors, lawyers, or engineers. These "future plans" are significantly taken into account, as Middle-Eastern families are always concerned about savings and the education of their children, more than themselves, so that they can set off their children at a great start in their early life.  On the other hand, the past and present aren’t regarded as much, particularly the present. Despite this, the past is valued at a reasonable stage, as it includes the time period that encompasses the sacred history of Palestine, in which structures Palestine as it is today. In addition, the unforgettable, deep-rooted childhoods of many current parents and grand-parents were contained within the past of Palestine. Finally, the present time is very much disregarded within the Arabs' lives, as it is a common stereotype to arrive late to any event or appointment, while being very rushed and unorganized. Moreover, due to crazy rush of daily routines, Palestinians, in my opinion, have lost their perception on the present, which is catastrophic, as the present is the result of the future. This is what distinguishes the Middle East, specifically Palestine, from other parts of the world, and why cultural attitudes towards time differ throughout, as the pace of modern Middle-Eastern life with its businesses, markets, stores, schools, etc., has pressured us on time and increased our reliance on clocks, in comparison to the past, in which patience was key and time was plentiful.

Middle Eastern (Palestinian) Perspective on Time vs. Brazil's Piraha Tribe Perspective on Time

When inspecting Piraha's perspective on time, it can be commonly specified that they are present-oriented when exploring past, present, and future thinking. This is much different than our Middle-Eastern culture, as they have no perception of time whatsoever, since numbers and time aren’t part of their daily language. They value the present much more, and take time in their daily doings, rather than hurrying to complete day-to-day tasks, which is linking to the Middle-Eastern culture. Since they are a tribe, and they possibly look into the history of their tribe, they perceive the past as a thriving memory that cannot be forgotten, which is partially similar to the Middle-Eastern perspective when looking into the way they value history. In regards to the future, they have no perception of numbers and time, in order to even think ahead to the future. They are simply not concerned about it and only about what they are doing in the moment, in that day, which is completely unlike the Middle-Eastern culture, in which revolves around future preparations. The Brazilian Piraha Tribe are unaware of such thing about preparing for the future, which is relaxing and stress-free for them.  

Personally, I admire the Brazilian tribe's logic on focusing on the present rather than getting hung up on the past or the future, as it is the present that helps build a prosperous future. We should definitely look into the future, in preparation for upcoming years. However, not to an extent that we are oriented around the future, and we lose our perception of the present due to busy routinely duties. A major confusion and misunderstanding on my part includes the fact that this tribe do not require the use of numbers to organize their everyday lives. On the contrary, we rely on them greatly, from using numbers within the date, the time, the year, mathematical conductions, and much more. It is impossible to live our daily lives without numbers or time, as they structure our use of hours, minutes, and seconds within a day.