marsoupial

May 9, 2017

Miss ____,

Zero is not a number. It has no value. It is merely the placeholder for numbers yet to come, or perhaps numbers that haven’t been put in yet.

Throughout history, zero has been significant. In ancient Egypt, around 1740 B.C., the symbol nfr, meaning ‘beautiful’, was used to indicate the baseline of the base ten system the Egyptians. Nfr had no value, it was simply the starting point for the rest of the numbers.

The Ancient Greeks had no symbol for zero. They were unsure about whether or not zero was a number. They asked themselves, "How can nothing be something?", and I ask you a similar question: how can my future career be something, when my missing work grades are nothing? Am I destined, set on a path made mine by the gods, or perhaps teachers, to fail? To end up working full-time in a [local fast food chain], my biggest achievement being “Employee of the Month August 2021” because I was exceptionally good at putting just the right amount of sugar-filled raspberry-flavored tea liquid in styrofoam cups? I desperately hope not.

There are lots of zeros on my current report card, mea culpa.

Please take my late work.

Yours for the next week, and then hopefully no further,

Cam ______