My Number(s)

I feel driven to write something because I just got a perfect score on an exam (also because it’s snowing outside, and snow makes me happy). The exam is the mini mental status exam to test for cognitive impairment (dementia). Ok it’s not a real “exam” per se, but it’s still my first perfect score all year. I took it because I was bored reading my psych notes, and Bam! 30/30 correct. Unfortunately, 30 is probably expected for a competent person. The link's not working, but here's the site i used. http://www.nmaging.state.nm.us/pdf_files/Mini_Mental_Status_Exam.pdf

This got me thinking though (not just because it was an exam): we are constantly being defined by our numbers. From the day we’re reluctantly dragged out of our mom’s uteruses, we’re given an APGAR score. Then every moment after that we’re defined by more numbers: age, height, weight, BMI, IQ, how many buffalo wings you can eat in one sitting (40). Our name, our gender, and our personality don’t really matter. We are nothing but a zip code, a telephone number, and a mailbox number. Institutions actually prefer defining people by number codes. What’s easier than identifying people by social security numbers or school ID’s? And no matter how much we hate 1,2,3’s, we have to use them over and over again for PINs, passwords (chicken bar code lol), and online purchases by credit card. In fact, one can argue that we spend our entire lives being slaves to numbers. We work overtime to pump up that bank statement, pay bills on time to get a good credit score, study for a great SAT score, and exercise for that low LDL/high HDL. But so what? Who cares if you’re GPA’s 4.00 and mine’s 2.00? Are you a better person if you make $100k more than me? I think it’s our competitive nature to try for a better score than everyone else. We are so focused on our statistical value, that we forget that we are so much more than just a pile of numbers. There’s no grading system for funniness, randomness, insightfulness, and love.

To be perfectly honest, I fudged the score on my mini mental exam. I actually got a 29 –I wrote the date as 2010 instead of 2011. And yes, that was the first question.