“Look after Number 1 “, they tell you, “because you’re worth it!”
“I, me, my, mine - anything left? - Self again.”
The number 1 can be selfish and insular, egotistical, opinionated, vain, proud as a strutting peacock with his tail feathers outspread, ostentatious and showy.
1 travels 1st Class and nothing’s too good for him. He’s up there among the Top Brass. 1 always wants to be Head Honcho, Top Gun, Top Dog, The Main Man. 1 is never the Indian, he’s always The Chief.
But alternatively, 1 is pioneering, inventive, innovative, self-reliant and self-motivated. When 1 is inward looking, it is on a journey of self-discovery, honest and true to itself. Outward looking, 1 can be tunnel visioned, headstrong, sometimes foolhardy, rash, risk-taking, game as Ned Kelly, the 1 who leads all the other kids into trouble.
1 is fixed, determined, self-propelled, and hell bent upon reaching a goal all of its own choosing.
1 is the leader in its field, the 1 who shows the way.
1 is independent, forward thinking, original, creative, and inspired.
1 does it his way, and likes his own advice best.
1 is the point of the pencil - the moment you put pen to paper, as the dot hits the paper, before you begin to write.
1 is the first step the infant takes, stepping out in brand new, baby blue shoes. Though you may be there to help him, by holding his hands from above, it is he who must take that initial step. And like the baby, 1 is trusting and innocent.
Of course, 1 can be very exciting and liberating, generating independence, but it can also be quite frightening at times, when you have to stand alone, go it alone, for the very first time.
1 can be “the loneliest number you will ever do”, especially if you’re a single man or woman.
1 is the tiny spark of fire that lights the eternal flame. The single cell, the beginning of life.
1 is the winner of the race. There can be only 1 winner, only 1 at the top of the dais, the star at the top of the tree. The Russians were Number 1 when it came to launching a Sputnik into outer space, on October 4, 1957, then on the 12th of April, 1961, carrying Yuri Gagarin, the 1st man into space. The Americans were Number 1 in the race to put a man on the moon, when, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong emerging from NASA’s Apollo 11, became the 1st man to walk on lunar soil. “ That’s 1 small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind.“