Today is birthday #38. According to the actuarial tables, this marks the halfway point of the life of an average American male. Of course, “average” is a statistical abstraction and is not necessarily applicable to any individual life. There could be one year left in my future, or sixty. Still, while the actual number is an unknown quantity, this symbolic halfway point gives me pause. Here is one life by the numbers.
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7 billion: Number of people globally. Coincidentally, the number of people who are my ‘cousins’ and share a common ancestor with me.
3.5 to 3.9 billion: Age, in years, of my earthling lineage.
2: Beautiful sons.
1: Nephew, niece.
17, 19, & 25: Ages I met, started dating, and married my wife.
1: Number of people who will ever be ‘me.’
0: Number of people who will ever think/feel exactly the same as me at the same moment.
2: Average cups of coffee per day.
29: Age I received my Ph.D.
~1,600: Number of students taught (so many irreparably harmed minds).
0: Number of times I’ve ever been drunk. Weird, huh?
Lots: Mistakes I’ve made; Number of things I would change about myself.
More: Things I like about myself.
0: Number of days I’ve felt satisfied with how much I know.
0: Amount of respect I have for prioritizing power and greed over kindness.
0: Number of people I hate unconditionally.
Many: Number of people I disagree with emphatically.
0: Number of religions I think are ‘true.’
All: Number of religions that contain pieces of wisdom.
Very: Importance of empathy, sense of humor.
Often: Frequency I am disappointed in Homo sapiens (myself included).
Large: Amount of confidence I have in humanity.
Immense: The beauty of life.
∞: The fact that I, and all of you, will have ever existed.
Unknown: Miles to go before I sleep.
Favorite version of the Golden Rule: “What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Now go and learn.” – Talmud
Second favorite version: “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” – Dalai Lama
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And as long as I’m being completely self-absorbed… this site offers a way to visualize your LinkedIn connections, by placing them into clusters. I did this just for fun and found that it was pretty much what I expected, with my connections falling roughly into 6 or 7 main categories. Maybe this makes me scattered, or perhaps just varied in interests.
My LinkedIn clusters
Patrick. I tried to ‘like’ your birthday thoughts, but the procedure to notify you of this ‘like’ was longer than saying it in words — so, happy birthday and happy thinking.
We (meaning anthropologists) all work a lot with numbers and we tend to forget the personal aspects of numbering things. I certainly don’t use birthdays any more — but I would if only I could magically be 38 again. (btw 39 is even better.)
I do remember hitting 44. I wouldn’t mind being that again either. But at the time I gave a party and mentioned to my Chinese assistant that since 4+4=8, I was expecting a good year ahead. With atypical bluntness he told me I was wrong and that 4 is a bad year and 44 double bad. That kind of qualified my birthday fun — seemed the best I had to look forward to was getting out of 44 by turning 45. The abbot of the local temple confirmed this the next day and said I had a very dangerous year ahead and, right in front of my children, said I would die. Somehow I thought that went against the Buddhist spirit of things and also against known natural order — after all most men don’t die in their 44th year. The rather solemn advice was (of course) followed up by a possible remedy: for one year don’t go to funerals and wear no bright colours, especially red, but also avoid black. (Since then blue has been my favourite colour.)
Well, red shirt and even red underpants went into the charity box and I survived. I had mixed feelings about that abbot. I’m really not at all sure the clothes I wear have impact on my longevity — but he was an abbot and had survived beyond 44, so I took his advice and it worked.
We (meaning anthropologists again) should not get hooked on numbers — although I am surprised that in 38 years you have never been drunk, that could indicate either that you have an incredible tolerance of alcohol — or that you never drink it. Let’s remember that the average human being has one breast and one testicle.
Enjoy the second half Patrick. Let me leave you with this sobering thought from my age viewpoint:
When the average Lao man was my age, he had been dead seven years.
Thank you, Robert. I look forward to seeing what 38 and 39, and 45 have to offer. I’m glad you made it through 44 unscathed. Taking away bright colors and black leaves very few options, so … nudist colony? It’s true that I do not generally drink much (it’s not a case of high tolerance). Perhaps one, and even that is infrequent. I’ve seen what alcohol can do, so I made a conscious choice to stay away from it. Ironically, that probably drew me closer to the SE Asian community in college, since alcohol was not a core component of their social scene. Those friendships raised more anthropological questions, and eventually a dissertation. It’s all tied together.
Happy birthday!