Essay 13
Essay 13: Triskaidekaphobia
Triskaidekaphobia (triz ka deka phobia), for those of you who are not into trivia or crossword puzzles, is fear of the number 13. Most people are aware of Friday 13th either from the movies or from general background knowledge. Some may know the odd fact that many tall buildings do not have a 13th floor. If you were scheduled for surgery on the 13th of some month, would you reschedule? Would you avoid flying or starting a road trip on Friday 13th? Would you sit in row 13 on an airplane?
First let us look at why this is silly. Numbers, by themselves, do not carry any meaning other than a quantity of some kind. So, how could a number carry any negative meaning. And they certainly have no power. This is true for lucky numbers as well. There is no such thing. If somebody has a lucky number, it may have some psychological value, which should not be underestimated. But no power beyond that.
Although, to be honest, I should admit that I have lucky numbers. My lucky numbers are 12 and 5. You might be thinking, “That isn’t really weird enough. Can’t you come up with something better?” OK, fair enough. My favorite Platonic solid is a dodecahedron. For those of you who are not up on Platonic solids, and haven’t read the children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth, a dodecahedron has twelve sides, each of which is a pentagon (5 sided). And, I actually have a small wooden dodecahedron on my coffee table in my living room. But let’s be fair. That is about as weird as I get. Hey, hey, come back. Finish the essay.
There are several theories about how 13 came to be considered such an unlucky number. One of the most popular says it is because there were 13 people at the Last Supper, Jesus and 12 disciples. If that isn’t enough, the 13th one to show up was Judas the betrayer. Hmmm.
Another theory says that the Medieval Order of the Knights Templar suffered a devastating massacre early in the 14th century from which they never recovered. The exact date of the massacre was Friday, October 13, 1307. This explains why there are negative connotations for Friday the 13th but does not explain how a generalized fear of the number 13 arose.
There are some positive aspects of the number 13. For example, a Jewish boy becomes Bar Mitzvah (an adult member of the community) when he turns 13. The United States began with 13 original colonies. There are 13 lunar months in the year. Some cultures see 13 as a positive number. And Taylor Swift’s lucky number is 13.
Of course, there are some weird things too. Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt both had an aversion to the number 13. Roosevelt would not dine with 13 people and Churchill would not sit in row 13 on an aircraft. Adolph Hitler’s baptismal name (Adolphus Hitler) had 13 letters. Several serial killers, including Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy, and Albert DeSalvo also had 13 letters in their names. And the 13th Major Acana Card in Tarot is the Death Card. Hmmm.
I am a modern, rational, non-superstitious, intellectual. I know how silly these things are. How can there be anything bad about a number? On the other hand, I really don’t want to curse an essay that I put a lot of time into by numbering it 13. So, I decided to write this one about triskaidekaphobia. After all, you can’t be too careful.
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