According To My Calendar

Between my clock and my calendar, I get these readings: It’s 1:32 on the morning of Thursday, July 10 in the year of Our Lord 2008. That’s nice; most of the world agrees on the time standard we use and the calendar is pretty much set.

It’s this “2008” business that causes a few problems, depending on your culture, your religion or your job. I think it’s nice to start the calendar running from the date of the person we recognize as our God and Saviour, especially since it’s our G&S. How would we feel if it were, say, from Confucius or Mohammed or some jungle god?

Astronomers may not prefer our choice of start dates. I doubt they have calendars hanging on the walls that say, “Thursday, July 10, in the year of 13,700,000,000. That’s when it all began: before Jesus, before Confucius, Mohammed and all the others. But it’s also an unsure date, as it’s probably off a few million years one way or the other.

I guess every so often we start over. Someone gets into office, some religious leader comes along and it’s, “Hey, let’s start a new calendar!”

What do people on other planets in other solar systems, in other galaxies, do? Maybe I’ll make it a point to find out when I have left this planet for whatever it is that awaits us. Maybe there’s a huge table with sample calendars from all over, so we can see how they did it elsewhere in the universe. It’s a cinch all those cultures in had their own ways and I’d love to see them.