Conversions, but not the Spiritual Kind

 (Hey Photo buffs, between these two similar shots which is best?)

In Sverige, like most of the world, measurements are metric.  I recall 15-20 years ago, the move was afoot to convert the USA to be in synchrony with the rest of the world.  I recall a few speed limits expressed as kilometers/hr.  It didn’t get very far.  When is the last time you saw a metric speed limit in the US?
I also recall a very expensive Mars probe spacecraft that was allegedly a total loss because of an omission (or maybe it was a mis-calculation) in converting inches to centimeters.

It has been a bit of a challenge, but faced with no other options we are adapting.  Temperatures here are all in Centigrade, so now we relate to the day in terms of -2 or -20 ^oC.  We measure snow in centimeters.  We talk about distances in km, and “Swedish miles” which appear to be about 7 Swedish miles to 1 US mile (I suppose it is a Swedish joke). I have learned to think about body weight in kg, and height in meters.

Converting between measurement systems is a bit more of a challenge for Brenda.  The stove is, of course, metric, so how does one get 350 F?  We tune the stove to 177 C!  For measuring it’s a bit of a challenge.  Brenda wants to make No-Bake cookies.  Converting teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups to milliliters and deciliters will test her patience and mathematical skills.

But in the end, it’s mostly a question of that to which we get accustomed.   At first we translate everything from metric back to Imperial measures, but after while, the metric makes sense (after all at least it’s a base-10 system!).

In the same way, we can learn to see life in spiritual terms or in secular terms.  It takes a little practice, but one of these days, I hope to have a thoroughly spiritual worldview. 
But it takes practice!