I am horrible at math. Once my children got past the third grade, I told them they had to rely on outside help for math homework. I sort of have my own “Mathesonian math method.” Mostly I like little numbers that can be added up. But not just in a “1 + 1 = 2” kind of way.
My math incorporates the fact that some things count more than others. That people count the most. And, above all, Mathesonian math clearly includes this principle: When you actually count the seemingly insignificant things individuals can do, there is a multiplier effect that produces magical and even miraculous results.
Benjamin Franklin included a version of this proverb in his “Poor Richard’s Almanac” in 1758: “For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For the want of a horse, the rider was lost. For the want of a rider, the battle was lost. For the want of a battle, the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”
Often this proverb is quoted as a negative — it is subtraction math. Failure to do some small thing can end in a catastrophic, kingdom-crushing result. Over the past 45-plus days of the coronavirus, I have been witness to this principle in the positive. “Because of the nail the kingdom was saved.” Individuals doing whatever they can makes all the difference in my math.
Edward Everett Hale, best known as the politician who spoke too long at Gettysburg, said, “I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.”
Mother Teresa put it this way: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
Here is my favorite equation for the week: 1 + 1 = 5 million. This is truly my kind of math. It is the miraculous kind of math that is absolutely tangible and real.
Project Protect is a collaborative effort between Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah Health, Latter-day Saint Charities, Utah nonprofits and volunteer sewers across the state of Utah to manufacture personal protective equipment for frontline caregivers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The need for protective masks, especially for front-line workers, is well-known. Those participating in Project Protect made a mind-boggling and audacious goal to produce 5 million masks in 5 weeks. The project began when an incredible 10,000 volunteers picked up supplies, kits and instructions to sew 100 masks each. Five days later the completed masks were dropped off — bam — 1 million masks. This process will continue for four more weeks.
President Jean B. Bingham, who leads the Relief Society for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was at one of the drop-off locations last Saturday. She said, “One individual at a time, has bought into this project. And then we have one individual at a time who signs up on justserve.org. Then they come one car at a time. They pick up their kit and they go home. One person at a time they sew one mask at a time, and then they bring them all back. One person at a time makes a huge difference.”
President Bingham concluded, “It’s like you’re talking about a waterfall. One drop — when all come together — look at the power that those ‘ones’ have together.”
Those “ones,” while united in purpose need not be the same. Sharon Eubank, who heads Latter-day Saint Charities and also serves in the Relief Society general presidency in the Church of Jesus Christ, helped receive the completed masks as car after car pulled through a crowded drop-off location in Riverton, Utah. She commented, “What struck me was the variety of people who are coming. In a Cadillac I see an elderly couple with matching facemasks … and right behind them is a monster truck with a young couple with kids strapped in back seats. Every car has somebody different with a different situation.”
Further demonstrating the multiplier effect of one plus one equaling way more than two, Eubank shared an example out of Mozambique, “where the local Latter-day Saints wanted to do something for the traders in the market because the markets can be very dense and it’s an easy place for infection to spread. ... They got fabric and asked any family who wanted to help to commit to making 100 masks. But what is interesting about the story is they didn’t have sewing machines. So, they made 100 masks per family by hand, sewing them by hand. Both parents and the family and the mothers and the aunts and the little children all sitting around by kerosene at night, making those masks.”
Continuing, she said, “And then to see photos of them passing masks out to the fishmongers in the market and the coconut traders — that’s a wonderful image to me. And I think it’s indicative of the spirit of how people are responding in their communities.”
The “Mathesonian math method” goes way beyond the production of medical masks. I have witnessed, read and heard stories of individuals delivering supplies to those shut in by COVID-19, teenagers bringing joy with chalk art messages on driveways, musical performances on front porches, handwritten letters mailed, medical staff saluted, high school seniors honored — and much, much, much more.
The cynics and the skeptics regularly question what one person can do in such difficult times. I think Dr. Seuss provided the perfect response to such mental curmudgeons when he wrote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” The cumulative effect of all the good currently being sent out into the world will make a difference, not just now, but for a long time to come.
The politician Jack Kemp said it this way, “The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society.”
We must never discount or dismiss what one person can do with one act of service or kindness. My Mathesonian math method of 1 + 1 = 5 million may well prove to be very small thinking in the end.
Because of the nail, and because of the mask, and because of one person doing one thing, the kingdom, and the world, can be improved and saved. Miracles happen — because it all adds up.