Numerically Speaking
One of my favorite parts of any given day is when I can work with numbers. For example, I save all my receipts for the month, categorize them, and add up the categories, then input them into a spreadsheet, which I analyze. One of my all time favorite programs is quickbooks. Entering payments and paying bills have a calming effect on me.
I realize not everyone has my sentiments when it comes to numbers.
But let me tell you why: numbers are straight forward. For example, in Algebra class, we are taught how to "simplify equations." There's only one right way to do this: and the equation, if simplified correctly, will always be the same answer. There is a certainty here that is reassuring.
People are not like numbers. They are complex, and the events surrounding us are constantly changing. Our moods, opinions and circumstances are always changing. There is no constant here. There is no simplified equation.
I was watching Morgan Freeman's "Through the Wormhole" the other night, and one of the questions scientists are asking is if there is indeed an equation that can answer the more complex, as of yet unknown oddities of the universe, such as dark matter. I won't go into what dark matter is, because I am not a scientist, but all I know is that it is a curiosity. I like to think that people are sometimes like dark matter: we don't always understand them, and they are unpredictable. This sounds sinister, but it's not. And I must point out that, although I say I am a numbers person, that is because I find numbers easy. To understand human behavior is a huge challenge, and it is a creative pursuit, and I do enjoy it. However, it takes a lot of energy, emotion, and can be exhausting.
If I could make up an equation that would simplify human behavior, I think I would do it. But I have a strong feeling that no such equation exists. That makes me wonder if there are tidy equations to solve some of our questions about the universe. People are so random. The universe seems so random. We are, in fact, just a microcosm of the universe (we are not separate from it). We can explain how gravity acts upon us, why we breathe oxygen, etc. But how do we explain the intricate web of human daily interaction?
A friend of the family recently went to Barbados on vacation from England. She came across a dog there, decided to rescue it, and brought it back to England with her. Can a mathematical equation sum up how extraordinary it was for both lives to intersect...for this person to have wound up in Barbados at this exact moment in time, and the dog being in the same place, having been born at a certain time to make this possible? It is just so complicated to even begin to imagine how everything led to this interaction. It makes my mind spin.
Even writing this and contemplating this almost impossible puzzle, I want to escape and return to a world of order. The world of numbers. Anything to make my mind stop spinning. Luckily, I have a nice big pile of receipts from last month just waiting to be sorted and counted. I'll make my escape to the ordered receipts...then I'll return to the chaos that is the rest of life.
I realize not everyone has my sentiments when it comes to numbers.
But let me tell you why: numbers are straight forward. For example, in Algebra class, we are taught how to "simplify equations." There's only one right way to do this: and the equation, if simplified correctly, will always be the same answer. There is a certainty here that is reassuring.
People are not like numbers. They are complex, and the events surrounding us are constantly changing. Our moods, opinions and circumstances are always changing. There is no constant here. There is no simplified equation.
I was watching Morgan Freeman's "Through the Wormhole" the other night, and one of the questions scientists are asking is if there is indeed an equation that can answer the more complex, as of yet unknown oddities of the universe, such as dark matter. I won't go into what dark matter is, because I am not a scientist, but all I know is that it is a curiosity. I like to think that people are sometimes like dark matter: we don't always understand them, and they are unpredictable. This sounds sinister, but it's not. And I must point out that, although I say I am a numbers person, that is because I find numbers easy. To understand human behavior is a huge challenge, and it is a creative pursuit, and I do enjoy it. However, it takes a lot of energy, emotion, and can be exhausting.
If I could make up an equation that would simplify human behavior, I think I would do it. But I have a strong feeling that no such equation exists. That makes me wonder if there are tidy equations to solve some of our questions about the universe. People are so random. The universe seems so random. We are, in fact, just a microcosm of the universe (we are not separate from it). We can explain how gravity acts upon us, why we breathe oxygen, etc. But how do we explain the intricate web of human daily interaction?
A friend of the family recently went to Barbados on vacation from England. She came across a dog there, decided to rescue it, and brought it back to England with her. Can a mathematical equation sum up how extraordinary it was for both lives to intersect...for this person to have wound up in Barbados at this exact moment in time, and the dog being in the same place, having been born at a certain time to make this possible? It is just so complicated to even begin to imagine how everything led to this interaction. It makes my mind spin.
Even writing this and contemplating this almost impossible puzzle, I want to escape and return to a world of order. The world of numbers. Anything to make my mind stop spinning. Luckily, I have a nice big pile of receipts from last month just waiting to be sorted and counted. I'll make my escape to the ordered receipts...then I'll return to the chaos that is the rest of life.
Its so true how perfectly timed each encounter is with someone; especially when its special...is it all a coincidence? I don't think so...
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