NUMBER 13

As we began the new year of 2013, and as we swore in the new 113th congress of the United States, I began to think about the number 13, and its connotations of being unlucky. Egads! I certainly do not want to begin this year thinking that it will be an unlucky one! Last year was bad enough, and I want to look forward to good things in the year ahead. Be that as it may, there is still this lingering thought in my head that the number 13 is unlucky. People who have a phobia around this belief are said to be, Triskaidekaphobia. I am not kidding here. So this idea must have some significance in our culture given such a long and substantial name! As we know, buildings, hotels and even street addresses avoid the number 13, well, like the plague. Now why is this and where did this idea come from. I did a little searching on the Web, and encountered some, both pagan and Christian, ideas for this and also some mathematical ones, i.e. the number 12 is thought to be the "perfect" number, able to be divided by so many others, and 13, a prime number, comes after that and is not very cooperative in the math family. The best reason that I could find to think of the number 13 as unlucky is that kids officially become "teens" at the age of 13, and we know what that looks like! But, lucky for us, some cultures actually think the number 13 is lucky, Italy and China for example. Now, here is my take on all of this; the number 13 is as lucky or unlucky as you decide it to be. I am convinced, at this stage of my life, that we do, in fact, create our own reality, and if you choose to think of 13 as unlucky, it probably will be for you. A bit of a concrete example of this, and perhaps a very poor "scientific" example occurred in my own life many years ago. Often, and I mean often, when I would look at the clock, it would register 7:47. It kind of spooked me, and I began thinking that I should never get on a 747 Jet, and what not. And for a time, thinking that these numbers were omens to bad things, I decided to change my thinking to envisioning only good things; that it was a sign that everything was going right. I now even say this out loud when I continue to look at the clock and see these numbers. A pyridine shift that all of us can make when faced with negativity. But, just to be on the safe side, don't walk under any ladders, and avoid all black cats!