50 days. A nice round number. Halfway to a century. A milestone. For some reason. I'll confess I've never really understood the human need for milestones. We seem to be obsessed with getting to these random "achievements". I mean why is 50 seen as a much more impressive achievement than 49? It's one extra. 48 to 49 should elicit the same level of recognition as 49 to 50. But it doesn't.
I tried to look back through human history to see if there was anything that particularly drives this odd behaviour. But it turns out we've always done this. We have always celebrated what (in the cold light of day) are purely arbitrary achievements or targets. I think this comes from an intrinsic desire for organisation an overwhelming natural urge to look for patterns and meaning in a world that is frequently devoid of it. If we can somehow ascribe some semblance of order to the utter chaos of the world then we might feel somehow better about the fact that we are completely ignorant about the purpose of any of this!!
So we celebrate as significant those things which are really quite mundane or simply part of the recurring nature of our daily existence. I'll wake up tomorrow a day older. And it means nothing. However on the 15th July I'll wake up not just a day older, but suddenly 40 years old. There will be introspection, nostalgia, planning for the future and a million and one other thoughts that simply won't be there tomorrow. Why will they be there in a few months time? Because I think they should be or because we are somehow inherently programmed to be this way.
It is one of the things about human kind that make us so intriguing. Our desire to find shape, pattern and order in things. Our wish to create some sense of understanding and control by applying our arbitrary concepts onto a universe that frankly has no interest or awareness of them. We put such store in things that, to the infinite cosmos, must seem quaint and cute.
But it does define us. It does shape how we live, how we exist and how continue. We celebrate milestones, we set targets and we package things together in certain ways for a reason. It helps us to create structure, to create a solid underfoot which provides an anchor to a reality we can understand. Because when you stop and think about it, nothing out here makes sense. There is no rhyme or reason to the universe that our minds can truly comprehend.
That is a wondrous thing. We are able to live our lives, to enjoy our lives in most cases, by ascribing a set of abstract concepts to the world around us - and then clinging tom them for support when the vertigo kicks in!
All that said, it is important to have these concepts to help us through. To allow us to package the world up in ways we can understand. So, 50 days doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. But I celebrate it all the same, and look forward to the next 50!
Today's charity is one that I heard about during a coffee break at work today. One of the people I was chatting to was telling me all about the money her and her husband have been raising for this charity in memory of their nephew. This struck a huge chord with me due to my charity efforts and the closeness of the causes. And they are headquartered in Houston too. I present to you the voluntary organisation Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which has been raising money since 1949 to combat all kinds of blood cancer. I had no idea we even knew of blood cancer in 1949 so my hats off to an organisation that has been fighting the fight for over 70 years. Here's to many more.
Still owe you today's blog.
Till later, Tom
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