It’s February apparently. Time flies when you’re having a good time. Time goes by even when you’re miserable however. Anyhow, February being the second month, Bumbastories feels obliged to return to a consideration of the numeral 2. A second look? Our March Through the Numbers continues!
The two – the dos, the deux, is the first real number, because one can’t be considered a “regular” number, since all the numbers are multiples of the one. One is unity, the All.
Our world, the world of opposites, comes into being with this division: heaven and earth, good and evil, life and death, present and absent, holy and secular, male and female, up and down, true and false, etc. and etc.
Life as we know it began when the first organism split in two. This fundamental process of mitosis has put us in good stead. The cells of our body are reproducing all the time. These things go on whether you know it or not, which is quite a relief. Imagine if you had to sign off on several million mitosises every day.
Two is the first prime number! It is also the first even number! In fact the two generates all the odds and evens. Numbers are either 2n or 2n +1.
The symmetry of the two, bilateral symmetry, is basic to all vertebrates and arthropods, even down to worms. That’s to say all us more “advanced” animals. Let’s face it: we bilaterals, or bilaterians, have a definite edge when it comes to getting around. Bilateral symmetry gives you the ability to steer. Unlike the corals, the sponges and jellyfish, we have a left and a right. A front and a back too! Advanced animals like us humans can even get to conceptualize and ponder things like “going forward” and “making progress” in our lives. Generally it’s considered a good thing to be moving forward. Presumably a jellyfish would have a different point of view.
The yin and yang, the dialectic, the class struggle, the dynamism of the two is how the world operates, and how we see things as happening. Instinctually, we discriminate between figure and ground. When you come down to it, things are either there, or they ain’t. Two is how it is, my friend.
It takes two to tango. 
The dance, the interplay – and I’m trying to keep this clean – of the sexes, is the greatest game in town. Meiosis and sexual reproduction has accelerated the pace of evolution, which some may regret, but that’s how it is. The Good Lord put two of every animal on Noah’s ark. The ark, by the way used port and starboard, fore and aft, and also used a lot of mops and pails.
So many things come in pairs. How many can you think of? Personally, I can think of franks and beans, corned beef and cabbage, wine and roses, and burgers and fries. Not to mention peanut butter and jelly. In baseball 2nd base is right there in the middle, and a double is a very good hit.
There’s nothing like going for a double! Except going for a triple, but that’s already the next number!As for the two in our language, there are just too many twos to mention. And please, don’t mention the ballerina’s tutu.
Two tutus! Yikes!Before we get sentimental about the two, let’s remember that to “speak with a forked tongue” is not a cool thing. Neither are “snake eyes”, second-in-command, or Bi-Polar disorder. To quote Joe E. Brown (at the end of Some Like It Hot),“Well, nobody’s perfect”. Neither is the two. Nothing is perfect it seems. And that includes the two. It is also incumbent upon me to remind you that “number two” is the well-known toilet euphemism for poop. Well, I won’t waste any more of your time. Except to remind you that 2 is the atomic number of helium, and that Hank Williams said “If you loved me half as much as I love you, you wouldn’t worry me half as much as you do….”Click to twice to hear
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