Numbers
Living Liberty Today with Charlie Earl
Even for the math deficient, numbers are a significant part of our daily lives although at times they can be numbing (see what I did there?). For those in my demographic, we must count our pills or capsules and consume them at the proper time of day. For the very young, it may include toys or games that encourage one to ‘learn’ their numbers. For most of our population, numbers drive the day. Since analog clocks have become quaint antique pieces, the digital time piece and its glaring numbers control our daily schedules.
Mid-term elections are underway for Congress and some state and local races. Polling companies are swamping us with daily glimpses about the status of the contestants. My personal experience is that they’re often wrong about the details of support for candidate but are frequently correct about trends. In the high-profile big races, one often hears the campaign manager shout for ‘the latest numbers!’ Politicians are obsessed with numbers because numbers translate into dollars. Low polling data? Spend more on advertising. Weak polling in a targeted sector? Deploy more staff to firm up the base. In essence, you don’t matter, but your collective cohort does. Gross numbers diminish the value of the individual.
Sports fans and players are number aficionados. Statistics are instrumental for identifying the contributions of individual players. “Low hit, good field” is a baseball term that may determine whether a player gets a roster spot or ends up selling grave headstones. For football receivers, number of ‘drops’ could be a career ending data point. In basketball, shooting percentage may determine the success or failure on the court. Some sports are timed so numbers are critical components of the contest. Statistical nerds spend a lot of time pouring over the numbers of their favorite teams or players.
Have you read your utility or cable bills lately? Deciphering the numbers associated with charges and ‘other’ fees can cause one’s eyes to permanently cross. The IRS forms are laden with blanks for inserting numbers…some of them mythical, but the numbers on the bottom line should balance. School students are hammered by numbers while calculating GPAs. I can recall when 4.0 was considered perfect and represented all A’s. Now scholars can score above ‘perfect’ by taking Honors or Advanced Placement classes. Meanwhile, the reading and math competency of the average high school graduate is alarmingly low. Maybe the AP courses should be the norm to encourage more diligence and learning.
Historically, we have enjoyed some great writers and poets, but it is the number crunchers who build our buildings and design our bridges. The mavens of numbers build rockets and spaceships and precisely calculate their paths to space and often back again. The beloved ‘gearheads’ design cars and trucks as well as computers and Smart phones. Writers and wordsmiths give us profundity and beauty, but those lab and cubicle types make our nation work. On the rare occasions that things don’t work well, we task the numbers guy with fixing it.
So, obviously numbers are instrumental in our lives. It is not a recent development but is historical. Genghis Khan certainly wanted to know the strength of his opponents before engaging in battle. Noah stayed faithful to God and spent 120 years building an ark, but all of humanity (except for the 8 members of his immediate family) derided his effort and called it lunacy. Moses spent 40 years in Pharoh’s palace, 40 years in the hinterlands, and 40 years leading the recalcitrant Hebrews through the wilderness. Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days and battled Satan’s efforts to compromise Him. Throughout the Bible, we find numbers that have meaning.
The biblical number most meaningful for me is 3: Father, Son and Holy Spirit plus 3 days after being crucified, He rose again, and He lives!!!