“Why do some months have 30 days and some have 31?” I mused recently to my husband. “I don’t know,” he said, followed by the growing catch phrase of the new century. “Why don’t you just Google it?”
For information fiends and those with eternally curious minds such as mine, the Internet appeared to be a godsend. You can find out about nearly anything. Simple questions (“Did they ever find Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s plane?) and their answers (they think so, it may be in the Mediterranean) lead to a never-ending network of more, more, more. Was his plane shot down by the Germans? Did he really read novels and fly at the same time? What else is in the Mediterranean? Who else died at a young age? Is Tommy Bradford from Eight is Enough still alive? You get my point.
Sadly, in my obsessive quest for information, I’ve even found myself thinking that if something is not on the Internet…it must not be that important. Stop, stop! And this is what I don’t like about the Internet. There’s no filter and there’s absolutely no space for your imagination. Information is not knowledge and the Internet crowds your brain with useless (and many times, untrue) esoterica that leave no room for wonder.
For the record, I haven’t Googled the history of why months have more days than others. I’d rather ponder that question for a bit. Maybe the western calendar was created by a superstitious druid who measured the days of each month based on the droplets of wax that flowed from his candle on any given night. Or maybe March was a bad month for him and he just thought that April ought to be shorter.
Ashley Memory 