Voluntary Study Course for a Calendar Without Borders

Voluntary Study Course for a Calendar Without Borders
By Raphael Ogar Oko, Country Coordinator, Teachers Without Borders (Nigeria)

Throughout human history, one of the greatest challenges that have confronted human beings is the ability to represent natural phenomenon in a manner that man can easily understand the past, present and future. The issue of a perpetual calendar that remains unchanging from year to year as well as harmonious and uniform as a true representative of the natural seasons is one practical example. Many attempts have been made in different parts of the world by different people and at different times to develop a calendar that is in harmony with the seasons, but yet, no one has provided the ultimate calendar that all people without exception look up to.

Confronted with this conflict, which has manifested through the observation of my annual birth anniversary between my birth day and birth date, I began the quest for a calendar that can harmonize birthdays and birthdates. Many people until this time celebrate their birthdate anniversary but erroneously refer to the celebration as their birth day anniversary. In the process of my search for a solution to this problem, several discoveries have been made and a new expression of calendar has been developed.

As you all may be aware, there are conflicts at various levels and forms in the human society, and as we aspire to build a world of peace (a world without conflict), it is our responsibility to resolve all the conflicts, beginning from the inner conflict within each individual, through the conflict between our mind and body, and extending to the conflicts between men and women, among families and between communities, states and nations as well as ideologies.

One of the conflicts that many of us have overlooked is the conflict in our birth anniversaries. Everyone without exception was born on a particular day and date. In most cultures, human birth anniversary are celebrated every year. For instance, I was born on Wednesday, July 13. My birthday was on Wednesday while my birth date was on July 13. I have noticed in every successive year that my birth date of July 13 hardly comes up on my birthday of Wednesday. For some years, July 13 comes up on Tuesday, Thursday or Fridays while other years have July 13 on Mondays and Sundays, with a few years having July 13 on Wednesday. Hence, in most cases, my birth anniversary comes up on my birthdate instead of the birthday. I have been very concerned and feel challenged about this annual conflict between dates and days.

Without doubt, there is a birth anniversary conflict between birth day and birth date based on the Gregorian calendar with about 365 days in a year, and with 12 months and 7 days in a week, with some months having 30 days while others have 31 and February has 28 or 29 days.

I have noted that the birth anniversary conflict is a result of the conflict in the Gregorian and other calendars. Having examined other calendars in use in different parts of the world, there is the need for a new expression of calendar that can resolve and harmonize the date and day and in particular birthdate and birthday.

As an educator, and in fact, as a teacher without borders, I have dedicated a significant number of years praying, reading and researching in order to resolve this calendar conflict with the hope that at the end, I shall come up with a solution to the calendar problem. I have been looking forward to the year that I shall celebrate my birthday anniversary on my birthdate. It is my belief that in the years ahead, this effort shall lead to a situation where we shall celebrate our birth anniversaries without conflict between the birth date and birth day.

I initiated a Voluntary Study Course on Birth Date and Birth Day Conflict Resolution to study all the problems responsible for the annual conflicts in the birth anniversaries of the 6.5 billion people living on earth and have come up with a proposal on the resolution of the conflict.

At the threshold of the new millennium, I completed the work in the year 2000, and there is now an opportunity for the world to consider options for a truly peaceful birth anniversary celebration, as all celebrations in the past have been anniversaries in conflict. My discoveries are quite challenging and many may think it is too extreme to consider. I still feel that when there is the will, there will be a way.

The summary of my discoveries concerning the popular calendar in use today and what the ideal calendar should be is presented below:
Contrary to the assumption that a year has 365 days, an ideal duration of year is 360 days, which represents the scientific calibration of a “circle” and also in harmony with the religious scriptures (Holy Bible) that 1,260 days is equal to three and a half years (Revelation 12).
The ideal duration of a month should be uniform throughout the year and therefore instead of some months having 30 days, others 31 days and February with 28 days, the ideal duration of a month is 30 days. Hence, there should be 12 equal months of 30 days each in a year.
The duration of a week has been based on the biblical reference that “God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day”. Hence, the calendar in popular use has fixed seven days in a week. Other cultures have different days in a week. However, the ideal duration of a week from my study is 10 days, which makes a month to have three equal weeks of 10 days each.

Based on these finding:
A year has 360 days, subdivided into 12 equal months
A month has 30 days, sub-divided into 3 equal weeks
A week has 10 days,

It is therefore possible for an eternal calendar to emerge, where there is harmony between the annual birthdates and birthdays, and where there is equality among the months, as well as equality in the number of weeks in a month.

For instance, July 13 every year will be on Tuesday unlike the present calendar that July 13 changes every year. I have shared the result of this study with both professionals and non-professionals, and the response have been a mixed reaction with some applauding the efforts while others condemn it. A few others feel that there is no need to re-examine the calendar we have inherited, but that we should pass it on as we have received it. Hence, as Gregorian calendar was, and as it is now, let it be so forever and ever.

I do not know what your opinion may be, but I have a calendar that can help resolve our birth anniversary conflict, and I invite you to take a look at it and let me know what your views are.

If you have any concern or questions to ask concerning this work, please contact me via Raphael@teacherswithoutborders.org or Raphael.oko@gmail.com.