Any number can be special if you look at it "properly”
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
21 September 2008
Is it a proof of numerology that
the number 8 appears to play a significant role in Francis Kimathi’s
life? His story was in last week’s
Sunday Nation but when we look at the evidence a second time,
different picture emerges.
He was born in 1948; a number
that has four digits and only one of them is an 8. therefore 8 is not
very special there – it accounts for only 25 percent of the digits.
It might be significant that in
August 2008 he won a vehicle worth sh800,000, but again, only two of the
five digits in 8/2008 is an 8… and only one of the six in “800,000” and,
by the way, we are not told the exact date that the draw was done.
Even though he started school in
1958, one might ask when he finished and what his grade was in the exams
– there were probably no 8s there. Further, his admission number in high
school was 6818, but what was the one in primary school and what was his
payroll number in employment?
And so on… we can counter every
point mentioned with evidence that the number 8 is not significant.
Aren’t you now wondering why nothing important seems to have happened to
him at 8 o’clock on the 8th of August 1988; or indeed in the
whole year?
The fact is that anyone can find
significance in the number 8 if they look properly. For example, I was
born in a family of 8 members (six children and two parents); my house
is in court 8 of our estate in a block of 8 apartments and my first
house here was number 8… and so on.
Given enough time, I can come up
with more. In fact any number can appear significant depending on how
you look at it.
This always happens when we
collect data selectively – recording only the facts that fit our desired
conclusion. If Mr. Kimathi looks at his life a second time, he might
find that there many other significant things that have happened to him
and the number 8 did not appear – and I can bet there are more without
an 8 than those with one!
It is in the same way that some
Kenyans believe that the month of August holds bad luck for the country
– Kenyatta’s death, the attempted coup d’état, the Nairobi bomb blast,
etc are given as proof.
But there are many disasters
that have happened in other months, for example, the worst killings that
this country has ever seen occurred in January…caused by elections that
were in December! August doesn’t feature at all.
By the way, I was born in 66, I
live in block 36, house number 6…. therefore, I can also argue that 6 is
my special number!
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