Caring about Arbitrary Things

It’s the 22nd day of the 2nd month of the 22 year of this millennium. It’s also a Tuesday. And while part of me can see why this seems like a particularly cooler day than any other day, another part of me is kind of baffled why it should feel that way. Was this always a thing, or did it just wait until Facebook, so people could post about “today is a day that will never happen again for the next buhzillion years, because __________”?

It’s funny: there are some things that I end up doing that make no sense to the rational part of me at all. Knocking on wood to “ward off bad luck,” for example. Somehow I got in the habit that I need to knock on wood (typically my head) whenever I say something I want to happen, just so I don’t “jinx it.” On the one hand, I guess if I really believed in jinxing things, then maybe this makes sense. Except I knock on wood when I’m watching DVR’ed sports games.

Why in the world do I do that?

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that jinxing things is possible. So do I somehow believe that the universe doesn’t just rearrange itself based on the random things I happen to say at any one point in time, but it will wait to see what I say in the future, and then go back to rearrange itself in the past to mess up whatever it was that I didn’t want to mess up. That makes total sense, right?

If I really did have this power, imagine the sorts of ways I could use it to my advantage. World leaders would just have to manipulate me to the point that I don’t want something to happen that they actually DO want to happen, and then as long as they can get me to say that thing, and then not be able to knock on my head, then voila! It would happen. While I wouldn’t be able to place bets around the skill myself (since I’d have to really not want whatever it was to happen, or else it wouldn’t work.), my friends could easily do it. Bet against my favorite team, and then watch the game with me, get me to say something, and then keep me from knocking on wood.

It’s preposterous. I know it. Everyone else knows it. And yet I continue to do it. This despite the fact that I like to think of myself as sane, and not too egotistical. So I guess the conclusion I should draw from this is that I should give a break to people who want to get really excited about a bunch of numbers in an arbitrary calendar system lining up in a certain way.

Happy 2-22-22 Tuesday, everybody!

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