I had been thinking for a while about a name my blog could have. “Pacemaker”, “A life less ordinary”, “Sideman”, “Windschatten” or “Wingman” have been choices … some of them might give you an indication of my strengths and values. Maybe more on a later day.
Anyway – back in 2018 Herbert Grönemeyer released his new record “Tumult”. Grönemeyer is one of my favorite German musicians. Actually one of the few German language artists I really like. “Tumult” at that time was a kind of relief, Grönemeyer found the right words to express my feelings about reservations against foreigners or minorities and the need to stand up against the growing right-wing movement all over the world.
Wir teilen uns durch eins und uns selbst
Träume, seid ihr noch da?
Denn euer Nein hab’ ich schon
Ich brauche jetzt ein Ja
We divide ourselves by one and ourselves
Herbert Grönemeyer “Seid ihr noch da” taken from his CD “Tumult”. Translation by primality.eu
Dreams, are you still around?
Cause I got your “No” already
Now I need a “Yes”.
A number that divides only be one and itself … a prime number. I remember one day coming home from primary school and excitedly telling my parents that I had learned “real math” today. And by that I meant numbers with arithmetic signs, finally not just pictures anymore. The enthusiasm was to remain throughout my school days (an enthusiasm I would share with my dad), and I would do my A-levels with a focus on mathematics, physics and computer science.
Even though I had nothing to do with mathematics since my school days, I remained a number nerd. I love number series, I prefer numbers if they are square numbers, prime numbers or multiples of 3. So Grönemeyer’s line reminded me of something that sits very deep with me. “Prime” did not really work as a name, but “Primality” does. And I very much like the uniqueness of a prime number as much as I believe in the uniqueness of every human being and the ability to stand out and shine in a very unique way.
