Time after time after (incremental) time
Hello you poor wandering one.
Maybe you celebrated it, or maybe the day slipped by unnoticed, but yesterday was February 29 or Leap Day. While this once-every-four-years moment not a major milestone in our socio-cultural collective consciousness, Leap Day is actually a pretty quirky phenomenon, so I was reflecting this week on where this quirk came from, why (almost) all of us just sort of let this massive internationally-accepted event happen every four years without thinking too much about it, and what opportunity it might present for thinking about being human.
Frankly, the reasons for including an extra day in the calendar every four years have pretty administrative roots. A year according to the Gregorian calendar is 365 days or how long it takes the Earth to orbit the sun. However the Earth’s orbit is actually closer to approximately 365.25 days, so without leap days, the calendar would be off by five hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds more each year. From Wikipedia: "After 100 years, the seasons would be off by 25 days. A leap day is observed because the Earth's period of orbital revolution around the Sun takes approximately six hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth's position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year."
That's the quasi-scientific rationale for why we have built this little blip into the human matrix of marking time. Okay sure, maybe it makes sense rationally. But it still truly amazes me that humanity has blithely accepted that this is how our world is organized-- that we just add an extra day to the calendar every four years. Because we could decide to do it differently. But we don't. So I kind of love that we don't really question this weird periodic time-backfill. The approach feels messy and awkward and oh-so-human. And it makes me wonder what other weird things we have decided is part of "being human" that I don't currently see as weird...
I also find it fascinating that it is an incremental error that we have built into our collective marking of the passage of time. I think part of the reason we don't question Leap Day is because it is an error that accumulates gradually rather than in one dramatic moment once a millenia. It is amazing what we will accept when things happen slowly, just under the range of perception. Like the boiling frog metaphor, if we are not paying attention, small, seemingly insignificant accumulations can result in big problems or big opportunities.
Although Leap Day happened yesterday, I see no issue with extending things a day and taking March 1 to think about what this strange human-constructed experiment can reveal to us about the world and ourselves. Ultimately, whether it is seeing our (personal or species-level) quirks, or it is influencing the course of cumulative change that is an inevitable part of being human: understanding the world around us and within us is not created by the answers that others give us but by the questions we ask ourselves.
So I leave you this week with a TED talk video to check out if you are interested, which prompts us to think about asking the tough questions to define our fears instead of our goals. I find this a pretty powerful exercise, and a helpful way to think about taking small incremental steps on one's journey through life.
Or perhaps you prefer a few personal questions (courtesy of Courtney Martin) to reflect on what is already accumulating in your life (whether consciously or unconsciously):
What was one of the moments you were most proud of in the past few months?
When were you last genuinely surprised?
What was your best failure over the past 6 months? (i.e. what thing that didn’t go well eventually taught you something critical?)
What was your most overrated success? (i.e. something you thought would feel great that was sort of a let down?)
And most importantly: What do all of these truths tell you about what is important to you, and the small, incremental ways you want to spend your time and energy?
Speaking of spending time on things that probably don't matter, as a final note this week, I could not let February 29 pass without making reference to the greatest Gilbert and Sullivan musical of all time-- Pirates of Penzance-- in which the entire plot evolution (or devolution) revolves around a birthday falling on Leap Day. The film adaptation from the 1980s (which is available for free on Youtube) was one of the few VHS tapes we had growing up, so I know EVERY WORD, every cadence, every nuance of this particular version (which stars Kevin Klein, Linda Ronstadt and Angela Lansbury). However if you want to skip to the specific song about February 29, here is a quick clip to enjoy. Give it a second to warm up-- or feel free to skip ahead to the fast-paced awesomeness--- it really picks up around the 1:30 minute mark...
But wait! Perhaps all of this talk of incremental change and aging pirates is feeling a bit too intense on a sunny Sunday morning? Then please enjoy exploring how to retire early
Still too much realness? Then check out this mildly-mesmerizing tutorial on how to make viking knit chains.
From one incrementally-changing person to another, I am glad that we can evolve (and also love pirate-themed musicals) together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a leap-filled week!
Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus