What difference does a number make?

I’m Australian, and so 12.12.12 is already done there – which is why I am ambivalent around dates – what is one date here is already over there and has yet to arrive somewhere else.  All we can ever look at is right here, right now.  But memorable numbers have a function – I can say what did you do last December and unless it was your birthday, it might be hard to pull out any real details. 

But if the world gives you a strong number or strong event, you can remember what you were doing in your own life at that time.  I still remember my sister calling me from Australia to tell me that Princess Diana had died, it had been in the late night my time and I was asleep, but it was in the middle of the day in Australia and everyone watched it unfolding in real time. That otherwise random day is etched in my mind. 

So today is a date that people might well remember – what are you going to do to mark the time?  I’m going to write a letter to myself,   that I can reread in later years, to see where I was at, on 12.12.12.  Of course each day is a day you will only see once – so if we give every day that added gravitas, our time will be well spent.