To truly understand the meaning of a word, we must be able to conceptualize it. It is easy to understand the word “twelve”: I can picture the twelve apostles or twelve eggs in a carton. I clearly know the meaning of “twelve”. But it is hard to conceptualize the word “infinite”: there is nothing in my experience I can use to relate to this word. Something that has no limits is beyond my comprehension. Consequently, I have a very fuzzy understanding of the meaning of “infinite”.
But we still don’t really “get it”. It is just TOO BIG to understand. And politicians in Washington undoubtedly want to keep it that way. As long as we (the voters) don’t understand it, they (the politicians) won’t be held accountable for it.
To Big To Understand
We should be able to understand the meaning of the word “trillion”. After all, it is a finite number, something we can count, something we can define with certainty. But it is such a BIG number, most of us have no comprehension of its meaning. We really don’t understand it, and consequently we ignore it. We see the word often in our newspapers, and hear it banished about frequently in Washington, D.C. We know that it is an enormous number, and that it will have a huge impact on our future. But we still don’t really “get it”. It is just TOO BIG to understand. And politicians in Washington who deal with the federal budget, undoubtedly want to keep it that way. As long as we (the voters) don’t understand it, they (the politicians) won’t be held accountable for it.
This is a very, very dangerous situation. We hold our politicians accountable for the small stuff because we understand small stuff (for example, mis-appropriating campaign funds or marital infidelity). But we don’t hold them accountable for the really big stuff (like trillion dollar deficits every year). They (the politicians) are not being responsible with our money and the future of our country. And we (the voters) are not being responsible either: by not understanding what our politicians are doing to us and to our country, we enable them to be irresponsible. The situation cries out for a “curb rein” of responsibility. And the curb rein starts with us. Once we (the voters) have a clear understanding of just how big a trillion really is, we can start to hold our politicians accountable for what they are doing to us and our country.
How big is a trillion? It’s the amount you would earn if you were paid $1 per second, worked 40 hours per week and stayed on the job for 31,700 years.
Some Illustrations
OK. How big is “a trillion”? It’s this big: 1,000,000,000,000. Still hard to get your mind around the meaning? Then let’s try some illustrations you might be able to conceptualize. A trillion is: (a) a million millions; (b) a little over $3,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States; (c) or, to spread it around a little more, $150 or so for every single human being on our planet earth (there are 7 billion of us currently); (d) the number of steps you would take to walk completely around the earth at the equator if you circled the earth 22,800 times; (e) the number of seconds that have passed since the Neanderthals walked the earth 32,000 years ago; (f) the amount you would earn if you were paid $1 per second, worked 40 hours per week and stayed on the job for 31,700 years; (g) the number of dollar bills piled up in a stack 68,000 miles high (a third of the distance to the moon); (h) the number of miles you would travel if you circled the earth at the equator 40 million times; (i) the number of cheeseburgers you could buy to feed every human being on earth a cheeseburger every day for almost 3 months; (j) the number of weeks our universe will have been here (from the “big bang” which was 13.7 billion years ago) when we get to the year 5,530,002,013 (that is, the year 5 billion, 530 million, 2 thousand and 13). There are many, many more ways as well to illustrate just how big a trillion really is. I encourage you to post back any illustrations you really like. In the end, pick the one that best helps you to “get it”. And remember always that this is only one trillion.
Take Responsibility for it
They say ignorance is bliss, and we have been blissful about a trillion for a long time. Now however, we must become powerful about it, take responsibility for it, and bring it under control. Knowledge of the whole, fact-based truth is the ultimate power. This power is within our reach if we are willing to think deeply and care enough about the future of our country to pursue the truth, the whole truth.
In the future, I will be sharing with you more thoughts along these lines…Bill O’Neill
