Day 27: The Odd Attraction of Numbers

We all have our favorites and 27 is one of mine. It is the date in January when I was born and it was one of the numbers I chose to put on the back of my jersey during high school baseball. The coaches made fun of me for choosing 86 one year (which is the year I was born). 7 was taken by the coach and he refused to allow a player to use it. That says something about his character. But that is not the point.

The point is that it is so interesting to me how significant numbers can become in our lives and in our superstitions. Just look at the regular lottery players in this country. Wow! I can’t tell you how many times that I heard shouted in a bar: “Shit! Those were my numbers,” as their numbers rolled across the screen and the shouter grabs a piece of paper to give away more of their money to the state that will definitely use the funds on the state’s educational system.

Numbers are simple. They are symbols of quantities or values. Or they are just arbitrary streaks and curves of lines on a piece of paper or television screen. The significance we input into those numbers is what gives them their true value that spans across any quantity.

We measure everything. We measure speed, distance, length, and even do our best to measure what we call time. Numbers in sports are coveted and honored. A person can become a number in an amazing way and also in terrible ways. We use numbers to name prisons. We have consistent numbers and measures that mean so much more than just the quantity: 6 ft under; 24/7, 365, things that happen in threes.

3 is magical. It is one that gets me every time. 7 was always my favorite number and I have no idea why. But I think 3 and 7 are pretty tied at this point in my life. 3 invokes a feeling of balance. We have 3 branches of government. There are 3 sides to a triangle, which is the most stable shape used in construction. We have 3 eyes.

The point is that numbers can be everything and nothing at the same time.

This could go on for a while, so I will just cut it off with that conundrum. You can argue amongst yourselves which is the best number.

Also, try to imagine a world without numbers. Then think of the universe as sand in an hourglass, turning again and again.

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Author’s Note #1: Infinity cannot be represented with any quanity, so we made another symbol to represent it: ∞. It is basically a sideways 8. But when I see the symbol for infinity, I think about the entire universe and then I go a little bit crazy.

Author’s Note #2: Fun Fact: for a long time the number 1 was not considered a number because it was argued that a number should be anything more than 1 because if you only have one of something then what is the point in counting.