A Life Measured

When we think of things that happened in the past we tend to count how many years ago it happened.  That number can be interesting or it can sometimes elicit the simple reaction "meh" and nothing more.  Despite this when you think of how long ago things happened, one thing we don't reflect on much is how much life has been lived since.  We may think of how old we were when it happened and how old we are now but that's not exactly what I mean.

It's 2016 and in a few weeks time I will be 28 years old.  Thinking about my life and what I have been through is something I have done and I think many others have too, but when it comes to thinking about other peoples' lives we tend not pay attention save for some close friends, family, or partners.  We tend not to think of the wider population or our race as a whole.  I may be turning 28 in a few weeks and that may be something for me to reflect on but with this being 2016, the 16th year of this millennium and this century, I have realised there are 16 years olds today who weren't born in the same century or even the same millennium as me.

For those out there who are older than me and belong to the same century and millennium as me, have you ever stopped to realise the population of people who fit into that box was sealed on 31st December 1999 just before midnight struck?  At that moment the number was frozen and started to decrease.  Likewise for those who are 16 or younger do you realise the equivalent population for you started at 0 in that moment and has been rising ever since?

Thinking about how old people can be now and how long I have been alive I have also realised at 28 I will have lived 16 years in this century and 12 in the last.  I have already lived in this century and this millennium longer than the one I was born in.  While 16 is a considerable milestone in your life, in 2 years time you will reach 18 and that's the moment when things get a little weird for me and those from my century because the reality will hit - there will be adults who weren't born in the same century as us.

I'm not trying to create division here, but rather to draw attention to the fact that time as it moves forward is measured in years which are somewhat arbitrary.  Yes they have some astronomical significance but even at that we picked something quite arbitrary to measure a year; we could have picked many other things to mark it, indeed there have been quite a few alternative calendars proposed, each to solve particular problems.  For example a 13 month calendar to mark a financial year - each month 28 days and 1 month with 29 - motivated by the fact many financial transactions recur every 4 weeks rather than per calendar month.  Month length, even week length, which days should be first and last etc have all been discussed.  Even in terms of time itself rather than dates, here in the UK we switched to British Summer Time for daylight savings, that in itself is an example of legislative influence over time measurement.

So just for perspective the next time you see a date or reference to how many years ago something happened, think about the fact someone that old wasn't born when it happened.  The next time you see for example "lowest level in 30 years" think about the fact there are people about to turn 30 who weren't even born.