It's Just Another Number

Well, another birthday has come and gone. Definitely the best way to spend a birthday is with family. In fact there are really only 2 times when it's not particularly good to be surrounded by family. One is at a funeral for obvious reasons and the other is while getting dressed-for equally obvious reasons. Otherwise, it's always good. My five year old grand daughter who is beginning to form numeracy concepts can't quite figure out what it means to be 66. When she asks me and I respond, she usually thinks for a minute and then asks "are you older than my daddy?" All one need do to understand this confusion is think about the recently passed Economic Stimulus Package. Is there anyone out there who really comprehends what a trillion dollars means? Even when put in other terms, it's meaningless: a thousand billion, a million million, a one followed by twelve zeros. Ten to the 12th power. Here's yet another way. If you were to spend a dollar every second, it would take you almost 32,000 years to spend a trillion dollars. Help? Me neither. So, like birthdays, it's just another number. At this point in my life, I've learned to look at things this way: one CT scan at a time.