Definitions of Zero

The numerical symbol 0; a cipher. We need nothing to complement our fullness. I do not know what this term means.

The identity element for addition. I'm not certain what identity element means either. Perhaps adding zero to the self produces a result of the identical self, which is another way of saying that something is produced when adding nothing to something, namely an identical something. And all these words we've been reading and writing are ciphers, identity elements, which we somehow need for the additions.

A cardinal number indicating the absence of any or all units under consideration. I feel absent from myself at the end of this semester. There is nothing left to work on, nothing left to say. I am a sum of zeros. Hollowed out. Nothing to see here. Move on.

An ordinal number indicating an initial point or origin. An argument at which the value of a function vanishes. I'm identifying more with the second of the two statements. In January, my initial point had some quantity and vector strength. Now, I'm experiencing the vanishing point, bigtime, as if a vanishing could be big, which is oxymoronic, perhaps merely moronic.

The temperature indicated by the numeral 0 on a thermometer. Depending on the scale, your zero feel is either freezing, or somewhere deep below freezing. I would characterize my zero feel at mere freezing, in the sense that the semester and all it tried to represent is crystallizing, suspended as time's present passes by. The asterisk in the middle of an ice cube.

A sight setting that enables a firearm to shoot on target. As in zeroing in on your pedagogical quarry. Teaching is like hunting blind. You don't know when you've hit the target, missed wildly, or wounded bystanders. And there is always the self-mutilation to be fretted about.

Informal. One having no influence or importance; a nonentity: a manager who was a total zero. Also a lecturer. A class. As in, that literature class amounted to nothing, had no impact, was worse than absurd, and will be quickly forgotten, like those other general ed. courses, and your bachelor's degree. What takes importance in lieu? If not this, what's that?

The lowest point: His prospects were approaching zero. I wouldn't call this semester, thought of as a point, as a low or lowest point. It wasn't that kind of semester. Vanishing point is better. A point of no return.

Informal. Nothing; nil: "Today I accomplished zero." Yup. Nothing much happened, and then the day continued regardless.

Zero, however, is not a negative number. You can at least give it credit for that. The predominate feeling of being at the zero sum is one of feeling emptied out, like there is nothing left to say, that the time has come to let the silence in. Breezes rustle the cherry blossoms; petal confetti clutters the paths. Nothing is real. Nothing to get hung about.