12/12/12

This isn't part of my daily challenge posts but I had to post it today because its 12/12/12!


What’s in a number?

I don’t know why, but I’ve been counting down the days till 12/12/12 since 11/11/11. I think that is when I realized that this Dec 12 would be the last consecutively repeating date until almost 100 years from now, which is a time I will probably not live to see. I don’t know why the importance of 12/12/12 has lingered inside of me. I kept thinking I would take of work, or do something memorable so that I could look back and be able to read the date 12/12/12 and associate it with something cool. But here I am, at work, about to head to Crossfit and then home by myself for an early dinner and then bed.

I wonder who was born today at 12:12 on this date? That’s pretty special.

I wonder who decided to get married. It’s a Wednesday, but someone just as crazy as me could’ve been dying to have that as their anniversary. Come to think of it, I wonder who got married on 6/6/6? That can’t be lucky.

We’re kind of obsessed with superstitions and associations in our society. Everyone wants to find meaning in the numbers. Maybe because math and numbers are so straight forward – they provide answers. Maybe that’s what we lack in trying to help us define our purpose, or existence. We yearn for concrete, definable answers. But for the most part, our answers come in vague and cryptic forms. Religion is filled with metaphor and symbolism. Our lives are seemingly a string of happenstance and coincidence. Are we really making these choices, or are we following a plan that is already set out for us?

I’ve tried desperately to attach meaning to this date, and maybe I’m joining a slew of others doing the same thing. But maybe we should stop trying to figure out the equation. Part of what makes life so special is that we don’t know the answers most of the time and we aren’t supposed to. The not-knowing and anticipating is what makes us get up every morning ready to face another day. We have the opportunity to have a new chance, a new experience, every single day.

That’s far more magical than any mystical equation or number.