1, 2, 3

           Three is a powerful---and you might even say--magical number. Three is considered to have special properties in different cultures around the world. In China, three is considered to be a lucky number. Fairy tales from around the world are often based on the number three, such as "The Three Little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The Three Kings traveled thousands of miles to visit baby Jesus. These are only three of many examples of  the number three. We don't really know why three is such a pervasive number. I'll talk about three areas of our lives that are tripartite in nature: the natural world,  culture, and the make-up of our bodies.  And I'll give three examples of each area.

          First of all, the natural world is full of threes. Atoms, the basic building blocks of life, consist of protons, neutrons and electrons. Now they've discovers Quarks in atoms. I don't know how many Quarks there are, what they do, or where they are in the atom, but it is a cool word--Quark!   Einstein's theory of relativity has three parts:  E=mc2, Energy equals Mass times the Speed of Light squared. Don't ask me to explain what this means because I have no idea. I didn't understand it in high school Physics class, and I still don't have a clue. We live in a three dimensional world.  This I can understand.  I can understand why we would not want to live in one dimension or two, but why three, and not four, five or six. All living things have three stages: birth, life and death.  Birth is preceded by three trimesters of pregnancy.

          Second, let's take a look at culture.  Cultures around the world often use the number three. Triangles have three sides. Geometry in high school was one of my favorite classes, partly because of triangles, which have angles that can be calculated with theorums. Pyramids are made up of triangles and are strong constructions that can withstand more force than square or rectangular structures. The ancient Egyptians believed that their pyramids had mystical powers. That's probably why they buried their dead inside pyramids.  Some people today believe in Pyramidology: the special powers of pyramids, as a way to preserve food, sharpen razor blades, improve health, and many other things. Christians believe in the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A lot of pop culture is divided into threes. Remember that Jackson Brother's song, "Easy as 1-2-3, as simple as ABC, ABC, 123, baby you and me..."  How about all the TV programs and bands we have watched and listened to over the years? The Three Stooges, Three's Company, My Three Sons, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Three Dog Night. Remember them?  We have many words in English that divide things into three parts: trio, triad, triplet, tripartite, triathlon, trifecta, trilogy, triumvirate, the trinity are examples.

          Third, and finally, our bodies are made up of three major parts: head, torso, and limbs. The torso has a chest, abdomen and back. Each of our limbs can be divided into three parts and three joints. Our arms have an upper arm, forearm and hand, with shoulder, elbow and wrist joints. Our legs can be broken up into thigh, tibia, and foot, each with three joints, a hip, knee and ankle. Now, I can't explain why we don't have three toes and three eyes, but I guess you can't have everything. To end on a personal note, I have been married for 33 years, have three daughters, and three grandchildren. Isn't that interesting?

          In conclusion, the number three really does appear to be an important number in our world. We just don't know why.  Is this just a coincidence, or is it God's sense of humor?

The Gift of Time

           Someone once said, "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and the present is a gift."  The only time that we can chose what we do is the present--we can't change what happened yesterday, or be certain what will happen tomorrow. So how do we spend our time; living in the moment, or thinking about the past or the future? We can chose to spend our time in an opportunistic way or a pessimistic way.

          The present moment is the only time that we are really in control of. We can chose to be pessimists and use our time negatively. We can hate our job, but not look for a new job. Most of us have a daily routine and do pretty much the same thing every day in our comfort zone. Habit drives most of what we do. Is spending several hours every day surfing the Net, texting, and checking FaceBook a good use of our time? How about watching 4-6 hours of TV every day?  Or we can be positive, live in the moment, talk to people, change our routine, try new things, go to new places, make new friends, stop doing things that waste our time, and just enjoy each moment as much as possible. 

          We all spend some time in the present thinking about the past. Many people do this, especially older people, regretting things that they did or didn't do in their lives, or remembering happy times and memories. Sometimes, we miss out on the present by always reminiscing about the "good old days." Or we can be positive and focus on the good things about the past, happy memories, the good things that we have done and enjoyed, and the accomplishments and successes that we have had. 

          What about the future? The future is mostly unpredictable, but is at least partly under our control. We often chose to think about the future in a negative way. We spend a lot of time worrying about the future. Most of what we worry about never even happens. As Winston Churchill said, "When I look back on all of my worries, I remember the story of an old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened." Or we can be optimists and look forward to the future in a positive way, focusing on our plans, goals, hopes and dreams, always expecting the best. We can make specific plans for the future and then do everything possible in the present to make those plans a reality.

          In conclusion, how we think about time is important. We can be optimists and spend our time living in the moment, thinking about the past and future in a positive way, focusing on happy memories of the past and positive hopes, plans and goals for the future. Or we can be pessimists, not taking advantage of the fleeting moments of our lives, but instead wasting time and dwelling on bad memories and regrets about the past, while worrying about the future. How do you use your time?