On Trying To Understand The Universe and Life
I sat there in awe. I was in awe at the man's genius. I was in awe of his life. It could be described by no less than miraculous. I was especially shocked at the way the narrator of the movie, A Brief History of Time, related the discovery of his illness. He explained, "The doctors told him that he had about two and a half years to live and only his heart, his lungs, and his brain would eventually remain functional while everything else in his body would turn into a cabbage"(1) The words echoed through my mind, "Only his heart, his lungs, and his brain...". It seemed a terrifying condition to befall a youth in his early twenties. But amazingly, as the story went on, I soon found out that for him, the beginning of his illness marked a turning point from which his life truly begun. And I was at awe at God. Simply at awe.
His name is Stephen Hawking. He is considered to be one of the greatest minds of Science. He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, in 1962. He is still alive. He describes his philosophy in life prior to his diagnose in these terms, "My attitude was that nothing was worth an effort"(2) In the movie about his book, A Brief History of Time, it is explained how this philosophy was evident in his scholastic work where, in spite of his genius, he merely maintained an average standing as a student.
Besides his diagnosed condition, the movie also points to another factor which reshaped his philosophy and outlook on life. He found love in the heart of a woman, Jane Wilde, who testified, "Without my faith in God, I wouldn't have been able to live in this situation(her husband's condition); I would not have been able to marry Stephen in the first place because I wouldn't have had the optimism to carry me through and I wouldn't have been able to carry on with it"(3) With these two events, things for stephen began to matter and he began to find meaning in putting forth the effort. His accomplishments, exemplified in a Brief History of Time, certainly testify to that. As the story unravels, he not only lived past two and a half years, he lived. He wrote, he studied, he taught, he questioned as his condition progressed; and still he lives.
The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States marked a tragic historical moment in American history. The president was fatally shot by a sniper while traveling with his wife, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally’s wife in a presidential motorcade at 12.30 pm on Friday, November 22, 1963. JFK was pronounced dead shortly after rushing to Parkland Hospital, where a tracheostomy and other efforts failed to keep him alive. Although Lee Harvey Oswald, a former United States Marine was convicted of the crime, the purpose behind the assassination remained inclusive as Oswald’s case never came to trial as he got shot to death two days later by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub operator in Texas. The assassination raised many questions and theories concerning the murder. As Oswald’s motives remain unknown, many scholars and investigators yearned to find the key to this mysterious crime, and came up with plausible theories searching for motives behind the assassination. While some straightforwardly blamed Oswald for the murder, claiming Oswald’s personal motives as the cause and supported the theory of the Lone Gunman, many developed more critical theories concerning conspiracies connecting the involvement of Cuba, Russia, the Central Intelligence Agency and the 36th President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson. The Warren Commission was established by President Johnson to exclusively investigate the assassination. The Commission published a detailed report and concluded that Oswald acted alone. The deficiency of the Warren Commission’s evidence to support its theory along with the cordial relationship between JFK and the CIA refute both the Lone Gunman theory and conspiracies involving the CIA in...
he suffered through-out his life, ie. the war, the holocaust, his wife's suicide, and his heart disease.
On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 in the afternoon, President John F. Kennedy was shot at and killed while participating in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The most important question that arises from this incident is ‘Who killed President John F. Kennedy?’ This is an issue which has been debated by scholars, The Government, and even common people alike. Many people seem to feel that it was a conspiracy, some large cover-up within a cover-up.
While researching the Kennedy assassination there were many articles, saying that the mob was involved in the shooting. The writers were convinced that there was more than one person involved when it came too killing John Kennedy, on that warm sunny day in downtown Dallas. However, while these authors were convinced that there was another party involved, so was the rest of America with eighty percent saying the report was false. The goal of this paper is to bring this topic into the spotlight once more, by connecting the shooting of the president with the mob, and Lee Harvey Oswald.
Patterson, Thom, Ed Lavandera, and Jason Morris. "One JFK Conspiracy Theory That Could Be True." CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. .
what others thought of him. His life symbolized what a lot of people have gone
had repeatedly come close to death in the war and in surgery and believed that he would
“I recently bought him coloring books because he’s an artist. I thought that would bring back his artistic talents. He used to do crossword puzzles, but they became too hard for him. This man who flew and refurbished aircraft could no longer do the simplest of things. Alzheimer's is such an ugly disease. With other diseases, people know what will happen. This is a slow, ugly deterioration of a man who was so brilliant, so talented and used to say there weren’t enough hours in a day,” said
... later on suffered from physiological problem from the prison war camps. His problem became so bad he almost divorced. He then started attending religious meetings to treat his ill mind
Sanders, Teela, Maggie O’Neil, and Jane Pitcher. Prostitution: Sex Work, Policy, and Politics. London: SAGE, 2009. eBook Collection. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
His name is Heisenberg. He worked mainly in Quantum Physics and was responsible for the development of the Principle of Uncertainty. This is one of the topics of this speech.
Roger Ebert was a multi talented usually dealing with writing. In fact, writing was his new way of having a voice. Ebert was diagnosed with cancer in his salivary glands and thyroid, which eventually led to the removal of his lower jaw and the loss of the ability to eat, drink or speak. Even though Ebert has faced a life downing situation his attitude has increased positively about life. How Ebert values life is shown when he said “I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. to make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts” (Ebert). Life to him was not to fall to defeat. It was to do what you love and enjoy life as much as
Genetically modified (GM) foods have become omnipresent over the past decade. They are a technological breakthrough that allows humans to manipulate and add foreign genes to crops to enhance desired traits, but they have also evolved into a controversial issue, especially for Third World countries. Some people believe that GM foods not only provide larger yields to feed hungry citizens in Third World countries, but they can also be a source of great nutritional value. For example, researchers have developed a strain of golden rice containing high amounts of vitamin A and numerous other vitamins and minerals. Additionally, GM crops are laced with herbicides and pesticides, and therefore reduce the need for chemical consumption. Opponents of GM foods claim that they pose a threat to the health of consumers and that these crops could eventually cross-pollinate in an unregulated fashion or lead to the growth of superweeds and superbugs resistant to the herbicides and pesticides woven into the genetic fiber of the crops. Developed nations should promote research and monitoring from an ethical point of view and financial assistance through philanthropic ventures in order to limit environmental and health risks. They should also make sure that limited cultural displacement will result from the introduction of GM crops and that instead, a better livelihood and well-being through collaboration will emerge. Hence, GM crops should be introduced only provided that the developed nations assume the ethical and financial responsibilities for the environmental, health, and social consequences that attend this new innovation.
...tentially be cured with a one surgery. He uses this story of death to share that life is short. “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by Dogma. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” He uses repetition and parallelism to drive his message home.
As Stephen grows, he slowly but inexorably distances himself from religion. His life becomes one concerned with pleasing his friends and family. However, as he matures he begins to feel lost and hopeless, stating, "He saw clearly too his own futile isolation. He had not gone one step nearer the lives he had sought to approach nor bridged the restless shame and rancor that divided him from mother and brother and sister." It is this very sense of isolation and loneliness that leads to Stephen's encounter with the prostitute, where, "He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin.