Draw the Line and Begin

Quick question. Where does the world start?

Not the world itself. The map of it. Every map needs a zero line, a place where “east” and “west” begin to count. You can draw it anywhere you like.

And for a long time, everyone did.

The French measured from Paris. Americans often measured from Washington. Others picked a favorite observatory. A sailor with a chart from one country and a chart from another could end up holding two different answers to the same question: where am I?

So in the fall of 1884, delegates from 26 countries gathered in Washington, D.C. There were 41 of them, and they had a big, plain job. Pick one line. Agree on it. Use it.

On October 13, 1884, they voted. The line would run through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. The count was 22 in favor, 1 against, and 2 who did not vote either way. France was one of those two. It kept using Paris as its own zero for years afterward.

I like this story because nobody got a perfect answer. Nothing in the sky or the ground says the zero line has to be at Greenwich. It could have been Paris. It could have been somewhere else. It was chosen. People agreed, and then they got on with their work.

Today you can stand at Greenwich with one foot on each side of that line.

Think about how often we wait for the perfect starting line. The perfect week to begin. The perfect plan for the garden, the shop, the project, the quilt. We hold the needle and thread and wait.

But a starting line does not have to be perfect. It has to be chosen.

So, what is one thing you have been waiting to begin?

Draw your line today. Put one foot on each side. Then take a step!