MATH OF LIFE

It is said there are only three kinds of people in this world; those who are good at math and those who aren’t. I happen to be one of the latter, so it is a bit surprising that I have come to look at life in terms of mathematics, but I guess that’s just how it adds up, go figure. I believe in four phases of life: addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. Here is what I mean:

ADDITION

We come into life with nothing, no clothes, no name, no bowel control—nothing, blank slate. Then we meet and add our parents, brothers and sisters, Aunt Rosie and Uncle Horace and Rover the dog. Then we add clothes, a name, and the all so advantageous bowel control. During this period of addition our muscles develop strength and coordination, and our brains go into high gear allowing us to engage in life skills like eating, walking, talking. We add a personality, we add friends, teachers, classmates. We learn to deal with different types of people and, to the best any of us can, relate to the opposite sex. In the addition phase we add to that mass of living protoplasm that was us all we need to be a functioning, contributing human being. Addition takes us from nothing and provides us with the basics we require to become the person we are.

MULTIPLICATION

Now we are all ready to go, but realize we don’t wish to go it alone, so we multiply what is us by bringing in a spouse, partner, significant other, mate, etc. and if that other person is physically capable of multiplying, from one comes many.   Then comes the inevitable--house, cars and various jobs, careers and the new people associated with them. Your children now have friends who have parents you get to know and with whom you interact. Your life circle is multiplying every day. Your social life is full of weddings, birth announcements and work parties. Multiplication widens our circle and provides us with supplementary tools to fine tune a productive life.

DIVISION

God, in his wisdom, has made it that children don’t stay around forever. They go, taking their friends and the weddings and births along with them.  There may even be a divorce or separation from the partner, significant other, or mate. In this division phase you may separate from your job. The long anticipated retirement is at hand. You disconnect from your coworkers and may even disconnect from your home geography to make winters more palatable to your brittle bones. Division tweaks the necessities of what you want out of your life. You begin to circle the wagons.

SUBTRACTION

Life has given us the opportunity to live our potential in the addition and multiplication phases, and helped us scale down during the division stage. Now it appears to be “give back” time.  We lose family members and friends. (This is not as hard as it sounds because we also begin to lose memory and comprehension.) Our skin and muscle tone, reaction time, patience, eye sight and hearing are not what they used to be. Our basic skills like eating, walking, talking take a beating. Overall health heads slowly south and here it is again that damn bowel control thing!   In subtraction, we find ourselves circling one wagon.

Of course these four stages do not often appear separately. They can, and most often do, occur simultaneously. (You could add a caregiver while your health is subtracting.) We may all experience these events to one degree or another in these fascinating times between birth and death. Something we need to remember is not to wait to experience our potential or our dreams until the subtraction phase. We will be much too busy trying to remember what we had for lunch.