One TG person I know describes her height as 5' 13 1/2". It's a fun way of saying that she's 6'1 1/2". Of course, 1 foot has only 12 inches, but most people will understand the joke and make the translation without much thought. Today, I was in a situation where one person said that it was 1:12 pm, and I responded that it was 12:72 pm - and this caused another person to defend his reality that it could only be 1:12 pm.
- - - - - -
I have mentioned that we have a motley crew of diverse employees where I work. As much as I'll joke that they could train monkeys to do our jobs, but PETA would sue them for animal abuse, I respect the firm for giving all the people working here an opportunity to earn a needed salary. It is a good place for people who are not able to climb the corporate ladder (for whatever reason), but it is not a place for an ambitious young person to spend more than a year or two earning money to pay for college expenses. Some of the people we have hired are on the autism spectrum, and it was one of these employees who protested that it was 1:12 pm when we were joking that it was 12:72 pm. The other person in on this joke was having fun with me, as he was comfortable with my response to him giving the time. After 30 seconds or so, I found myself explaining to the fellow with autism that the two of us were joking with each other, knowing that we were breaking the rule that an hour only has 60 minutes.
Strangely enough, I wonder what goes on in this man's mind. Does he need the certainty of having only ONE way of describing the world to function effectively in it? What does this mean at a larger social level? Could conservatism and adherence to religious dogma be related to this trait that has manifested in this person in this way? Could the need for religion be a result of our species need to have a single explanation for everything that happens in the universe?
I remember a conversation with TCL where she was asking a lot of questions as to why something was going on. It was frustrating, as the answer to many questions like this may only be: "it just is, because random chance may have made it this way." And in the case of myself, I think growth came because I didn't have to accept either a fixed dogma or an unanswered question for what it provides me.
