Today, I am thankful for those who create order out of chaos.
Our individuality is a wonderful aspect that distinguishes each of us from any other person in the world. Our DNA is inherently unique, and, thus, our physical appearance, our mental framework, and even our personality is uniquely our own. Individuality also gives us the freedom to be fiercely independent in terms of our personal & professional aspirations. As a result, the world has been blessed with masterpieces in art, science, & technology.
Yes, we should be thankful for our individuality.
But, in a world of 7 billion people we also need standards. One can think of the 9-digit number system & the field of mathematics as a universal standard created so that great leaps in engineering & science could be realized. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, it became apparent to societies that standards in commerce were crucial to ensure proper trade across borders. So, around the 1850s, the gauge for the railroad track was set in both the US and UK at 4 feet & 8.5 inches to allow for transcontinental transportation. All other nations eventually followed suit. In science, the naming of amino acids, elements, & compounds were also standardized to allow for progress. More recently, electronics have adapted a binary code for computer processing so we can all speak one common language on our laptops.
But, today, I’m most grateful for another internationally accepted standard – time. On this day (Feb 8) in 1879, a Scottish Canadian engineer named Sanford Fleming, who incidentally was instrumental in developing the Canadian railroad standard, decided it was time for the world to use the same time convention. It took him missing a train while in Ireland in 1876 (because the printed schedule listed p.m. instead of a.m.) to come up with a plan. Frustrated, he proposed a single 24-hour clock for the entire world, with the 24-hour time zone divisions arbitrarily linked to the Greenwich meridian. The world debated the timing system for another 50 years (!) before finally accepting this framework in 1929.
Some things, but not everything, require standardization. Take it from Albert Einstein who once opined:
Comments