Brief Story About Your Social Security Number

S… S… N
Three letters which mark your existence. Both your decisions, and bank account, will be defined by a number of 9 cold digits.

Some time ago, I found myself rummaging through my personal documents to find my Social Security Number. I was filled with an internal anguish when I realized that at 18 years old I had not learned it by heart (which I could not allow myself morally speaking), promising to recite it until I could remember it without hesitation.

Within two days I found myself filling out a form and my mind was blank.

I had failed miserably. To be honest, numbers have never been my thing.

However, I knew that if I could recite Eminem’s bop “Stan” from beginning to end with dexterity, a simple number combo would be managable. Afterwards, I remembered that human beings have the ability to remember up to 6 numbers with ease, which perhaps comforted me a little bit.

Few months, and papers later, my goal had been reached: 3..1…

STOP. YOU CAN’T SAY IT.

But after my personal triumph, a new wave of uncertainty came roaring back: where did the idea of ​​having an identification number come from? Like I said before, numbers panic me.

Although HISTORY, quite the opposite.

After some research, I found out that “The Social Security Act” was signed on August 14th, 1935 in order to collect taxes in an administered way. At the time, it was what paid for pensions, layoffs, health benefits, welfare programs and disability benefits for primary workers.

Do you want to know who was the first lucky holder of a SSN? A guy named Ernest Ackerman who got his 17 cent pay in January 1937.

What about assigning numbers? Well, apparently the first 3 digits until 2011 were granted according to your geographic region. The numbers were assigned starting in the northeast, and moving west meaning that people on the east coast have the lowest numbers ,and those on the west coast, the highest ones. The remaining 6 digits are more or less randomly assigned.

Faced with this valuable information, I couldn’t help but think that 9-digit number combinations are not infinite. What will happen when we run out of alternatives? Will more numbers be added? Will we recount from scratch? Apparently 453.7 million different numbers have been issued so far, and we still have 5.5 million to assign the next generations.

Now, I wanted to go a bit beyond the limits. For instance, I surveyed about 23 fellow Americans from 16 to 20 years old to get some general statistics.

Woah, suddenly I’m good with numbers.

About 70% answered NO to the question, “Do you know your social security number by heart?”

Weak.

But no, seriously. What kind of social phenomenon are we in presence of?

My point here is highlighting a recurring theme in my life that I always like to emphasize: civic education and citizenship participation. Share your pride, get involved, learn and appreciate your identity.

Even if it’s just a stiff blue-ish / green-ish card (this debate is for another time).

-Val, out.