Holiday Ramblings

The event so far...

It's been a rather chaotic break so far, with over 2,000 miles logged on the odometer and the return trip to Kirksville yet to come.

I was sitting here in front of the fire and thinking this evening what a wonderful role in my life science and learning in general has played. I think more than religion, or even the people in my life, science has shaped my worldview.

My mother emphasized reading extremely early in my development, and at a very young age I was able to engage the world through the written word. It was short order before I was looking through books with beautiful pictures of sea life, birds, animals, and most importantly, the stars, and devouring the words describing them. It was this fascination with space that would lead my interests through the years. Of course I was passionate about nearly everything I read, but more than anything this interest with the heavens held me, and does so to this day. As a young adult, it was the writings of Carl Sagan that would truly define for me how science could unlock nearly everything I was interested in.

I wasn't a whiz in school though. I never felt it worthwhile to apply myself academically as a child, and only late in high school. School was something I was going to get through, and that was about it. But one day during senior year of high school,my friend Doug asked if I would like to go with him to tour Florida State for the day, as he was looking where to go after high school. Though I had no intentions of even going to college I went with him as I thought it would be a nice way to spend a day with my friend, and it was a school-excused absence. But I fell in love the instant I stepped foot onto campus. What I saw was thousands of young people in one place to learn. And not just to learn, but to learn whatever they wanted. The libraries were brimming with every book imaginable, and the possibilities for learning were limitless. On the spot my goal became to attend the university at all costs. With some last-minute sacrifice and mental acrobatics I managed to fulfil that goal and it was only the first step. My experience at FSU shaped me not only because it was a place to learn, but a place to grow in general, and that I did. And many other interests were opened to me, and I am greatful for all of them.

I was looking for a star chart on Amazon.com, and it just brought all of these thoughts on: how much I loved science, and education in general. That warm feeling I get when I walk into a Borders, turn on PBS, or hear Science Fridays on NPR. The sensation I have when I see children learning about the planets for the first time, or when I look up at a very clear night sky during a long-distance drive. It's a haunting, huge feeling in my heart, and a warm blanket all at once. I'm amazed and greatful for our capacity to learn, and our ability to stretch our minds and abilities. I was playing with a dog this morning and I was disappointed about how slow I was moving, compared to this dog. I said to myself, 'Why don't you go faster?", so I did. I thought I could. The human mind is simply amazing.

A lot of rambling yes, but I like to illustrate how easily I forget how wonderful the most simple things, truly fundamental, can be taken not granted, but rather forgotten during what we call "life". And usually life is disappointment over a circumstance or even more often a social situation or the restrictive mental confines of a medical education. This science, this learning, they're wonderful things. But I think they are a bit endangered, as I see a lot of chilren who don't have this lust. They don't have it because they aren't offered it. Children are zombified by entertainment television (not at all evil, but definitely needing balance), and even worse, are being taught at school merely to take some state qualifying test, rather than in the broader sense of true learning. It's something we need to strongly consider when we speak, when we act, and when we vote, as policies are proposed which constantly reduce education dollars, threaten public broadcasting, limit scientific teaching to replace it with religious agenda, and that constantly threaten the quality of American education. Perhaps we need another space race to bring these issues to light? For now I commend those teachers who teach with passion, parents who nurture discovery within their children, and those leaders who strive towards quality in the education of our chilren and of our adults. I am greatful for those who write the books, and produce our educational radio and television shows. And I am greatful that I can always read some book, or look up at the sky when I'm driving home for the holidays and ask, "Why?"