Meaning Nothing

It came about from general confusion, as so often happens. It had always been the easiest of mistakes, especially in reading handwriting, a zero looked like the letter ‘O’, and vice versa. Even to write about it now, it seems best to spell out the numeral. So, it became common practice, wherever both characters were used, to slash through the numeral to indicate a difference. In that way, seldom were the two confused. However, as handwriting became less and less often used, the practice was relegated to the obscure and esoteric practices of mathematicians.

There came a time, though, when an artistic soul decided to erect a statue in defiant protest in the face of incessant attacks on everything once cherished and sacred. At personal expense and with much effort, the artist brought a large block of granite into a community square. Behind a drape his work proceeded as he…