When teaching scripture in religious ed, I tell my students that whenever you see the number "40",

[hedgehog]

it's like a big flashing sign that says "pay attention, something important is happening here!" For example, 40 days and 40 nights of rain, 40 years in the desert, 40 days in the desert etc.

So my brother points out to me last night, it's been 40 years since Martin Luther King's "I've been to the mountain top" speech.

[Two Americas]

1. 40 years

I have noticed that social and political change runs roughly in 40 year cycles, with bigger changes every 80 years. It probably has something to do with a two generation span.

40 years ago was the political upheaval of the late 60's. 40 years before that, the crash and the depression started. 40 years before that, the progressive and populist movement and rise of Labor unions. 40 years before that the Civil War. 40 years before that the popular rebellion against the national bank and financial interests, and expansion of the franchise that led to the election of Jackson and the founding of the Democratic party. 40 years before that the American Revolution. 40 years before that, the Great Awakening.

[rug]

2. Reagan was #40.