I wish you all a Merry Christmas! This post’s message concerns being on time at this time of year.

Yet, I would not have been me If I had not added a pinch of salt and sugar. (This is why I decided not to send Xmass greetings this year, either online or offline mail.)

What is the time we are living in?

It might be that the profile photo best describes it. It is AI-generated yet ambitiously refers to the symbolism of our ancestry; symbolism is the major memetic field (memetic blueprint) of our culture, of our being (in time).

Being in Time is the prophetic book of Martin Heidegger, published in 1927. This book was the only Item I had with me on December 31st, 1986, when I was discharged from the Yugoslav army after 11 days of “service.” I was recognized as not being mentally fit for a service that later caused 10 days of war in Slovenia and horrific crimes in Bosnia and Croatia. Then, I happily walked on muddy fields around Belgrade airport with Heidegger under my shoulders, entirely army clothing (without a gun). Now, I am content.

Why was I walking on muddy fields around the airport? Didn’t they have shuttles back then?

Indeed, they had. Yet, the friend who was dismissed for the same reason was then, for the first time in Belgrade, so we thought that a bus to Surčin would bring us to the airport named Surčin Airport. Contrary to my expectations, we were brought to the village of Surčin, where we could see the airport towers behind the local fields. There was no way to cross them to check in on time for the flight to Ljubljana. The mud in that period was sticky, slippery, and deep as hell. When we arrived at the airport’s fence, we slipped through a hole with boots and trousers that would immediately enter an army prison should we be detected. Fortunately, some staff bathrooms were empty at 6 pm on New Year’s Eve, where we could wash the dirt and then enter the abandoned check-in area, for this was the last flight, and we were the only passengers.

The pilot and crew were Slovenians eager to return in time. Imagine an Airline allowing a large aircraft to fly with two passengers nowadays! This is the first reference to being in time.

The second one is airport security. Imagine entering the main national airport somewhere from the back through a hole in the fence nowadays.

The third reference about the being in time is somewhat more subtle. This one explains the failure of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav army shortly after. I would not object to describing my friend as somewhat crazy and not fit for the army service, yet I was physically and mentally fit. I only did not want to serve and, for this reason, spent some time with a psychiatrist beforehand to develop a file that “proved” my mental disorders. Faking mental disorders at that time to avoid army service was heavily penalized. Either I was so good at faking (with the support of my “properly filed mental history”), or the army lost its power to detect what is true and what is not.  Later events proved the second option. Atrocities committed by the Yugoslav army and Serbian para-army forces prove that they lost the grasp of reality if nothing else.

Yet, there is the fourth dimension of being in time in this true story. It is a story of Being in Time, a book, and walking (with my support) on muddy fields around Belgrade. A dismissed “soldier,” a deserter in an army suit, almost buried in mud, should be the most appropriate picture of the existential essence of being in time.

So, we should ask ourselves, in Advent and Christmas, when the sun starts to rise and when a light wins over the dark, what is that being in time? What are we holding in our hands? What is the mud that prevents us from walking? What fuel powers our engines to fly away from the darkness?

The answer for me lies in the profile picture. The answer for you lies in you.