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Pennies on The Pendulum

Fact: The Clock in Elizabeth Tower, often referred to mistakenly as “Big Ben” (which, by the way, is the nickname of the hour bell and not the clock or tower), is kept accurate by using pennies placed on the pendulum.  According to Wikipedia, “Adding a coin has the effect of minutely lifting the position of the pendulum’s centre of mass, reducing the effective length of the pendulum rod and hence increasing the rate at which the pendulum swings. Adding or removing a penny will change the clock’s speed by 0.4 seconds per day.

I love the idea — both realistically and metaphorically — that one of the most important clocks in the world, one which is relied on and trusted, is kept trustworthy and true by small change.

I would like to think that, for many of us and our lives, the same might be true.