Relativity of Simultaneity: Can two events occur at the same time?

Let us imagine that you stood in the center of a field and had two people, A and B, stand at an equal distance from you on opposites sides. If both A and B proceeded to kick a ball at you at the same velocity, both balls should hypothetically reach you at the same moment. This concept relates to the idea of simultaneity which can be defined as the relation between two events assumed to be happening at the exact same time. 

What is the theory of Relativity of Simultaneity? 

One theory presented by Albert Einstein challenges this concept: the theory of the relativity of simultaneity. The relativity of simultaneity essentially states that "inertial observers in relative motion disagree on the timing of events at different places" (Norton). Ultimately, deciding whether two separate events are occurring simultaneously is not definite but depends on the observer's relative motion, or their reference frame. Ultimately, two different observers may have differing opinions on whether two events were simultaneous or not. For example, from my earlier example, if the person standing in the middle were to be heading towards person B, and they still received the ball simultaneously from both people, that would mean that person A must have kicked the ball earlier than person B and therefore, both events were not simultaneous. This example displays how simultaneity is relative to the observer's frame of reference. 

Relativity of Simultaneity vs. Appearance Simultaneity 

Now that we have discussed the concept of the relativity of simultaneity, we must discuss the topic of "appearance simultaneity". Appearance simultaneity creates the illusion that two events happened at the same time, when in reality they may not have (Norton). What actually may have happened is that the observer's "sensations" of both events occurred at the same time or not at the same time, which leads to a false assumptions of the simultaneity of both events. I personally, have not considered the idea of how the perception of the simultaneity events can depend on observers relative motion and frame of reference, so this theory has allowed me to view time and the occurrence of events differently. 

In Special Relativity...is time unreal? 

Einstein's theory of special relativity states that time either slows down or speeds up in relation to the speed something is moving to something else. In special relativity, I believe time is not necessarily unreal, but it is not defined as the same concept of "time" we associate it with now. Time in the sense of special relativity is a lot more flexible and is not so set in stone, as it can change based off the situation at hand. Therefore, in special relativity time is not necessarily "unreal" but it it changes depending on whether the observer is heading towards or away from something else. In my understanding, if an observer is in motion, they may experience an event occurring before another event depending on where they are moving. In comparison to an observer who stays in one place and may experience the events at the same time.