Sometimes, I catch myself wondering about weird things, things that most people couldn’t care less about. The thought that captured my thoughts recently was all about paper. I go through plenty of it in the course of a year and always purchase the exact same thing: 8.5 x 11. That’s the standard, right?
But why is that the standard? Why not 8 x 12, nice even numbers easily divisible. Does anyone else share my curiosity? If you do, I’m about to give you the answer!
The Dutch are credited with the paper manufacturing process in the 1600s. “Paper molds made of wood were dipped into vats containing pulp and water. Once dried, you had paper…Through trial and error, the frames settled into a standard size of 44 inches long to accommodate the outstretched arms of the laborers. Divided up by four, that gave paper makers a paper size of 11 inches.”1
So how did we get the 8.5-inch dimension? It seems that the Dutch frames were 17 inches wide. Cut that in half and you have 8.5 inches. This standard size fits typewriters perfectly and was widely accepted. The only other dimension of paper that serves as a standard is the 8.5×14. It is believed the extra three inches were for lawyers who needed more room for wordy contracts and documents as well as signatures.
Imagine if the standard constantly fluctuated. Schools, offices, and businesses would have all sorts of issues. Copiers and printers would jam. Type would run off the page or have excessive margins. Hard copies couldn’t be filed neatly. And students would find the smallest paper they could on which to write their 15-page reports. Who could blame them?
There must be a standard. What’s yours?
The church of Corinth proved that fluctuating standards are dysfunctional standards. 2 Corinthians 10:12 says, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” They used each other as the standard for themselves in determining their spirituality.
The flaw in their logic should be obvious. When we use others as our standard, we will 1) set up a single person that we admire as our goal and 2) compare ourselves against everyone else who isn’t as far along as we are in order to stroke our ego and give ourselves an air of superiority. Let me deflate that egotistical balloon.
Romans 8:29 says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” We have one standard – Jesus. And we are ALL a long way from that goal. There is much work to be done in our lives to reach that standard.
Raise that standard daily before your eyes and always strive to be more like Christ – not everyone else. HE is our standard by which we need to measure ourselves.
1https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/648466/why-is-standard-paper-size-8.5-x-11-inches
