The year 2014 is shaping up as an incredibly exciting one for those of us born in 1957. That’s because we all turn 57 sometime during the next 12 months. And with the exception of winning a multi-million dollar lottery, finding the Fountain of Youth, or learning for a fact the preening star of a baseball team you despise is in reality a holier-than-thou, lying, philandering, steroid-using hypocrite, what other one-time-only experience could be more invigorating, inspiring and potentially life-changing than turning the same age as the last two digits of your birth year?
Mountains of anecdotal evidence suggest there’s nothing coincidental about people achieving remarkable things and/or having incredible luck during their “Magic Year,” as 2014 is going to be for those born in 1957 (and also in 2007).
My own family’s history is fraught with examples of this phenomenon. My father was born in 1923. The year he turned 23 (1946) was worth celebrating, as it was his first as a fulltime civilian after several activity-filled, tension-laden (35 missions over Europe) years during World War II.
My mother made her Earthly debut in 1929; she gave birth to her second son in 1958. My paternal grandfather, born in 1886, was eager to turn 86 in 1972, which made his premature demise at the tender age of 83 even more tragic. My mother’s father was born in 1891, and while he didn’t say or do anything unusual when he turned 91 in 1982, everyone in the family got the distinct impression he was simply happy to be around doing anything at that point.
And apparently the “Magic Year” blessing gets passed down from generation to generation! Our first child, who was born in 2001, started sleeping through the night (occasionally) in 2002. Our daughter was born in 2003; she stopped needing diapers in 2006. Our youngest, born in 2005, began his formal education in 2010, earning his pre-kindergarten certificate in just one year! The boy is clearly a prodigy!
In 1992, America’s president ran for re-election against an obscure ex-governor of Arkansas. Had George H. W. Bush only known Bill Clinton was turning 46 that summer, perhaps he’d have campaigned a bit more vigorously. If he’d studied his history a little more closely he have known James Monroe (born 1758; elected president 1816) and Woodrow Wilson (born 1856, elected president 1912) each won the White House during his own “Magic Year.” Or he could have recalled his own past: born in 1924, the elder Bush entered the oil business in 1948.
In 1968, the Boston Celtics, led by player-coach Bill Russell, became the first National Basketball Association team to rebound from a three-games-to-one deficit and win a best-of-seven playoff series. They went on to win their ninth NBA title in 11 years that spring. Earlier that year, Bart Starr led the Green Bay Packers to their second consecutive Super Bowl victory, and that same summer, Hank Aaron of baseball’s Atlanta Braves slugged 29 home runs while drawing more walks than he had strikeouts. Russell, Starr and Aaron were all born in 1934. Hmmm.
This year is unquestionably going to be momentous for everyone born in 1957. There are 57 varieties of Heinz ketchup. The atomic number of Lanthanum is 57. The Boy Scouts of La Grange, Ill. belong to Troop 57. Carnegie Hall is located on West 57th Street in New York City. Fifty-seven is also the code for international direct-dial phone calls to Colombia. Actor Wesley Snipes starred in “Passenger 57,” a movie that launched his career as a leading man in the “action film” genre. Mr. Snipes was born in 1962. If he’s smart, he’ll wait until 2024 to make the sequel.
In 1992, Cher released a compilation album of her greatest hits in Europe; it topped the U.K. album charts for seven weeks, and more than two million of them were sold. Is it any surprise that the singer turned 46 that year?
But not everything about this remarkable trend involves tinsel and glamour. Since “Magic Years” are only even-numbered, they always fall during election years in the United States. It hardly seems fair those born in 1957 will be accomplishing all sorts of great things this year while our fellow Americans have to endure at least nine months of the shameless pandering, outright lying and fomenting of divisiveness that soul-numbing American political campaigns seem to require these days. But for us, that’s a small price to pay for a year full of magic.
The “Magic Year” theory is also patently unfair to those born in years ending in 00 or 50. But those particular unfortunates will just have to work a little harder to make their own luck. The reality is that successful people not born to privilege have been doing that all along.
— Andy Young teaches at a York County high school, and realizes that the only way to have a “Magic Year” is to believe it’s going to be a magic year.
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