During this past summer, I was given the amazing opportunity to work as a volunteer at Lincoln Hospital, a Level 1 trauma center, the busiest in the Northeast region. I was fortunate to have worked in the emergency department. Throughout the six weeks, I shadowed and helped Patient Care Associates, ranging from cleaning beds and getting juices and food to stocking up carts of supplies like sheets, socks, and wipes. Although this was the main task we were given, we also had the opportunity to speak to patients. These were the times when I had the most insightful conversations. The patients spoke about their day and told me their stories from different ages, from when they were young adults to the elderly.

Throughout these conversations, patients often brought up the concept of time. The definition of time according to the Oxford English Dictionary is “indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.” Virginia Woolf and Plato both agree that we should take advantage of our time, be aware of its passing, but also live in the present. But while Plato universally talks about time, Virginia Woolf acknowledges that time isn’t experienced the same way by everybody.

Through the conversation between Cephalus and Socrates, Plato addresses the idea of time and the challenges of moving through life when one is older. In the first book of Plato’s Republic, we meet Cephalus while he gets a visit from Socrates. Cephalus is an older man, and he is the father of Polemarchus, Socrates’ friend. During the conversation, he exclaims, “Socrates, you don’t come down to the Piraeus to see us as often as you should. If it were still easy for me to walk to town, you wouldn’t have to come here; we’d come to you. But, as it is, you ought to come here more often, for you should know that as physical pleasures wither away, my desire for conversation and its pleasures grows” (Republic 3). As time passes, priorities change. Many people believe that getting old is a curse, but at times it can make you appreciate other things in your life. Cephalus enjoys having company from younger people but also acknowledges his capabilities.

From my experience, it is difficult to come to terms with the idea that you are unable to do something. When working in the hospital, I had seen many situations like this, for example, when elderly people had been unable to do simple tasks and they had been very stubborn about it, but some had come to terms with their limitations. A more specific example is when an older woman had been waiting patiently but she had still asked the doctors if there had been any news to let her know. She went on to tell me that she had been going to Lincoln Hospital for the last 45 years because that was the age of her kids; they were all born there. During her time she knew she was older and needed to come more often and knew she had to speak up for herself. She had accepted what was happening to her and dealt with it as she adapted to her new situation.

Although this is something that caught my attention, it’s what Cephalus says next which is meaningful. Socrates says that Cephalus has finally reached old age and asks him if it’s a difficult time and his views on the matter. Cephalus goes on to say that when he and other older people get together and discuss, many complain about not being able to have sex, drink at parties, and feast. In addition, they would complain about the curse of being older and the idea that they were suffering. But later in the book, Cephalus exclaims that you just have to reminisce about your experiences and look back on them. This is crucial for young people to think about as young adults. We want time to move faster, and we are also looking at the future, but we miss the present. The other older gentlemen with Cephalus say they want to go back to those times when they were young and have fun without thinking.

I believe that Plato gives a general idea of the time of getting older but Virginia Woolf gives a more focused concept of time for women and gender has an impact on that. Something I appreciate about Virginia Woolf is her honesty in her opinion, “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction, and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of women and the true nature of fiction unsolved” (Woolf 4). Although she says that women need a room and money to write fiction, I believe this could be a broader term and that this can be applied to many different areas of life. For someone to grow we need space and that is what Virginia Woolf is trying to do to show that people need space to grow but this space came with time society provided us with access.

Unfortunately, women weren’t given that opportunity for many years due to sexism and the ideology that women were incapable and were only meant to bear children. Woolf addresses this issue when she exclaims “The only change I could bring against the Fellows and Scholars of whatever the college might happen to be was that in the protection of their turf, which has been rolled for 300 years in succession, they had sent my little fish into hiding” (Woolf 6). Woolf acknowledges that for a long time, women weren’t given the space to receive an education let alone thrive in a career and be someone other than a mother. Woolf also makes the statement that “One must have been something of a firebrand to say to oneself, ‘Oh, but they can’t buy literature too. Literature is open to everybody. I refuse to allow you, Beadle though you are, to turn me off the grass. Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” Although women had access to education it was still possible to get that taken away at any time.

Plato’s view is exclaiming to reminisce but also be present and while that concept of time is very real, Woolf brings the acknowledgment to the past and how long it took for women to access education; it can be taken away at any moment but the knowledge and your mind can never be stopped. The reason this statement connected to me is because many people are asked how I was going to have a career and have a family at once because I can’t be an absent parent. These questions came about when working in the ER, I gained a new passion for health care which in the future will hopefully be a part of my life. However, the question I was asked was whether school to be a doctor is long, what if I wanted to have a family, and whether I would have to pick between the two. Many people say that it is because of my biological clock, and if I am interested in having a family, I need to begin early. So time management is questioned, but we need to go for our aspirations to not have regrets in the future and to live life. For women, time is something that we have in mind because when it comes to things people ask what we are going to do. Time is thought of differently due to gender because a man will never be asked that question but instead, be praised. Woolf’s books show that time is perceived differently depending on who you are.

Through my experiences working at the hospital, and reading Socrates and Virginia Woolf, I learned that two things can be true at once. Socrates isn’t wrong when talking about time with Cephalus, but his view can be applied to many people, and I have seen many older people accepting the situations they are in physically but still being positive and adapting to their new reality. Virginia Woolf gives another look seeing how gender plays a part in a person’s time specifically in women and how they face other issues. I experienced that firsthand by others asked how I would handle being a mother and doctor or having another career in the medical field. But something I learned from Socrates and Virginia Woolf and my experiences is to enjoy life. We only have one and we need to live it. Time will never stop.

Works Cited

Plato, et al. Plato, Republic. Harvard University Press, 2013.

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. Hogarth Press, 1931.