The Psychology of 10/10/10

Today is October 10, 2010—the tenth day, of the tenth month, in the tenth year of the new century! Many people consider the rare occurrence of same number dates during the calendar year to be lucky. At the very least, it is indeed a unique phenomenon!

To begin with, the number ten in general seems to give people a warm, fuzzy feeling. It is regarded as the most perfect of numbers, symbolic of the beginning and the end. We have ten fingers and ten toes. Counting on fingers probably led to our decimal number system, with its symbols 0-9. Biblically there were ten virgins, five foolish and five wise; There were ten leprous healed by Jesus, and God sent ten plagues of Egypt through the prophet Moses. Finally, Moses received the “Ten Commandments” of God!

Last, but not least, there are the ever ubiquitous Top Ten lists—Top Ten Reasons, Top Ten Websites, Top Ten Songs, Top Ten Movies, Top Ten Headlines, Top Ten Jokes, Top Ten Mistakes, Late Night Show Top Ten, Top Ten Reviews, and the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives … the list goes on and on!

Mathematically, the number 101010 is also rooted in uniqueness. It is evenly divisible by the number of days in a week (7, also considered lucky). An equal oddity is the fact that it is also evenly divisible by the number 6 (generally designated as being unlucky). Both a Ying and Yang situation seem to be incorporated into this date!

Globally, today is the biggest-ever day of positive action around the world. From sumo wrestlers cycling to their training in Japan, to 10,000 schools planting trees in Croatia and Russia, from a carbon-cutting telethon on national TV in the Netherlands, to hundreds of people in the UK sitting down to low-carbon Sunday lunches, this is going to be a really inspirational day!

What are you doing for 10:10:10?