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Everything Matters to Me
Feb. 4th, 2003 05:38 pmI've been thinking all day.
All. Damn. Day.
And I'm not done yet.
Not only do I have to summarize my work (managed to get that part done), but I have to synthesize it into a model, articulate it well and oh yeah articulate my future directions.
I know I can do this, I just have to wrap my brain around some tricky problems that its been reluctant to be wrapped around so far. Erg.
-----------
In the meantime, over at UE, there has been some discussion about the Columbia disaster. Some of the folks over there have expressed that they feel rather untouched by the loss of the shuttle. Some feel a little sympathy, but little else. Others don't understand what the big deal is, since people die in tragic ways every day. I responded a couple of times, and thought I would copy one of my responses here. . .
I think I feel it closely because I'm a scientist. Although I am 15-20 years younger than the astronauts who died on Saturday, I feel the same passion for learning, science and the pursuit of knowledge that drove several of them. It's the same passion that drives many at NASA and most members of the scientific profession.
I guess I feel a kinship with them. I would love nothing more than to peer through a window and look back at my planet far behind me. Not everybody is built for it, however, and my body may not let me. But don't be surprised if someday you find out that Dr. Bronwyn E. Ramey is working for NASA. As it turns out, my specialty, biofilms, is a field of particular interest to NASA for a vast number of reasons, so I am extremely hirable over there! But I digress.
The point is, there are a lot of people who feel a kinship, some just an innate one, with the space program even if they don't follow it day to day. Others simply don't. I suppose there's no reason to feel badly if you fall in the latter category.
The death of a mother in a car accident, like the death of my cousin or the death of my friend - these were all tragic losses of life, and are incalculable because the lives lost were filled with POTENTIAL, they had not yet been fully realized, nor were they killed while completing a mission for their nation.
Harsh as it sounds, the loss of Columbia and the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon are tragic and both incalculable AND calculable in both human and economic and scientific terms. Not only were lives lost (and the emotional familial things that go along), but so was important data, cargo, materiel, and sheer intellectual capacity. These people WERE on a mission. That's what makes the difference.
It doesn't make the loss more sad or more tragic. The difference simply makes the Columbia disaster newsworthy. (emphasis added)
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Back to the grindstone. . . . model model model model model. . .
*sigh*
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One last thought. I was going to title this Everything Matters, then I changed it to Everything Matters to Me and I realized that this is probably why I have such a hard time coming down on one side or the other in many arguments. If I can't minimize the needs of one side in order to favor another, how can I ever make a decision easily? No wonder I'm a registered Independent. Heh.
All. Damn. Day.
And I'm not done yet.
Not only do I have to summarize my work (managed to get that part done), but I have to synthesize it into a model, articulate it well and oh yeah articulate my future directions.
I know I can do this, I just have to wrap my brain around some tricky problems that its been reluctant to be wrapped around so far. Erg.
-----------
In the meantime, over at UE, there has been some discussion about the Columbia disaster. Some of the folks over there have expressed that they feel rather untouched by the loss of the shuttle. Some feel a little sympathy, but little else. Others don't understand what the big deal is, since people die in tragic ways every day. I responded a couple of times, and thought I would copy one of my responses here. . .
I think I feel it closely because I'm a scientist. Although I am 15-20 years younger than the astronauts who died on Saturday, I feel the same passion for learning, science and the pursuit of knowledge that drove several of them. It's the same passion that drives many at NASA and most members of the scientific profession.
I guess I feel a kinship with them. I would love nothing more than to peer through a window and look back at my planet far behind me. Not everybody is built for it, however, and my body may not let me. But don't be surprised if someday you find out that Dr. Bronwyn E. Ramey is working for NASA. As it turns out, my specialty, biofilms, is a field of particular interest to NASA for a vast number of reasons, so I am extremely hirable over there! But I digress.
The point is, there are a lot of people who feel a kinship, some just an innate one, with the space program even if they don't follow it day to day. Others simply don't. I suppose there's no reason to feel badly if you fall in the latter category.
The death of a mother in a car accident, like the death of my cousin or the death of my friend - these were all tragic losses of life, and are incalculable because the lives lost were filled with POTENTIAL, they had not yet been fully realized, nor were they killed while completing a mission for their nation.
Harsh as it sounds, the loss of Columbia and the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon are tragic and both incalculable AND calculable in both human and economic and scientific terms. Not only were lives lost (and the emotional familial things that go along), but so was important data, cargo, materiel, and sheer intellectual capacity. These people WERE on a mission. That's what makes the difference.
It doesn't make the loss more sad or more tragic. The difference simply makes the Columbia disaster newsworthy. (emphasis added)
--------------
Back to the grindstone. . . . model model model model model. . .
*sigh*
-------------
One last thought. I was going to title this Everything Matters, then I changed it to Everything Matters to Me and I realized that this is probably why I have such a hard time coming down on one side or the other in many arguments. If I can't minimize the needs of one side in order to favor another, how can I ever make a decision easily? No wonder I'm a registered Independent. Heh.
