Cardinals and Ordinals, do you know the difference?

It's 2010 C.E.

So far our calendar has recorded 2009 years and a few days as of this writing. When most people speak of the last 10 years, technically, they are really referring to the last 9 complete years and whatever amount of days within the 10th year since 10 complete years have not passed.

In 2001, December 31st for example, one complete year had passed. Actually on 2002, January 1st, one year had passed and the second year had begun (2002). As of midnight, January 1st, 2002, one whole day of 2002 was complete, 2002 would not be complete until 364 days later. That would be the very second that the clock turned to January 1st, 2003.

Birth date years are Cardinal. When you're 1, a complete year has passed. You start with milliseconds upon being born (literally 0) and end up being 1 year old on the same date of your birth, the next time around. Some cultures start counting upon conception. So when you are born you are now 9 months old or any variation of that depending on whether birth was premature or not.

This is not the case with Calendar years (at least not with the Gregorian and Julian Calendars). The Romans and Greeks had no year 0. Year 1 A.D. or C.E of our calendar was not a Cardinal number but an Ordinal number. One whole year had not passed, that would only happen on 2 A.D. or C.E. Anytime you see years marked in calendars, you have to subtract one to find out the real number or whole number (Cardinal).

So for 2010, the 10th year will be complete on 2011, January 1st on the first tick of the clock of that day be it a nanosecond after midnight of 2010, December 31st or what ever unit of measurement you want to use.

One easy way to understand the differences then is to think of Ordinal numbers as numbers that tell you a position, like in a race, 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Calendar years are positional.

Cardinal numbers tell you how many, in order words a quantity (whole numbers).  A basket of apples with a count of 10 apples uses a Cardinal number. You don't normally think of the apples in the basket as 1st or 3rd unless you want to know if you put a green or a red apple in the basket first.

One thing is for sure, time keeps on going forward (as we understand it) and we can't go back to change things done in the past.

When 10 whole years of this new century (which is Ordinal as well) have passed, where will you be in relation to your goals and aspirations?