“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
- Cynthia Ozick
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the veterans out there. Without our brave soldiers protecting our civilian behinds, here in the US, we couldn’t enjoy such freedoms to have things like this blog. We really owe them a lot, and their work is often far under appreciated. Thank you troops for what you have done in service to this great country. Those men and women who have served are better than I, and I can not thank them enough for their service.
Often I hear people say how some sports star or musician are their hero. Everytime I hear that I shake my head a little bit. Truly they are not heroes – heroes save peoples lives when risking their own. People like cops, firefighters, soldiers, and even doctors – although they don’t risk their own lives when saving a patient. I sometimes wonder why people don’t feel that true heroes are worthy of recognition while Alex Rodriguez and his 100+ millions in cold green cash are. I figure it comes down to the media exposing atheletes more and more. So I want to do my part today – I came across this video on CNN where two off-duty firefighters were recorded pulling a family out of a burning car. Warning the video is a little scary. There is a feeling that the vehicle could blow up at any second.
I often ponder the actions of humanity and its place in the world. It is the nautre of a history major to contemplate such phenomena. Unfortunatley, I often see the dark side of the subject as it is what society seems to focus on. For a moment yesterday that did not happen. I quickly visited the CNN.com homepage to scan the headlines to see what was happening in the world when my eyes came accross the headline which read: “what is man’s greatest achievement?” This quick moment made me change the subject of my thinking for a good amount of time. I began to ponder the good that humanity has done throughout history instead of the wretched. I ended up clicking on the headline to read the short article – which turned out to be nothing but a report on a poll. The article never answered it’s own question so I figured that I could make a case for a particular accomplishment in the attempt to answer the question.
So what do I see as man’s greatest accomplishment? I am going to take the safe answer – the conquering of math, algebra, and geometry. It is hard to give credit to a particular group of humanity because it seems that each civilization developed their math off of other works from previous civilizations such as the Egyptions or the ancient Greeks. I feel that math is so important to the accomplishments of humanity because without it, many of the accomplishments would not have been possible. Whether it was the building of the pyramids in Egypt, the invention of flight by the Wright brothers, landing on the moon, or the invention of any product. Math works hand in hand with the sciences to develop things like the refridgerator, or the steam engine. The development of math throughout the years have brought on many of the fancy things that man has achieved. It is easy to name many of the fancy inventions of man but it is easy to forget the building blocks that allowed humanity’s accomplishments.
With that said it is important to mention the signifcance of today. On this day, forty years ago, man walked on the moon. This is a big accomplishment of man and if you look at the history of flight it is quite amazing that only 66 years after the invention of human flight that man was able to fly to the moon. Today is a day to cherish being human.
* As a tribute to the moon landing this post was posted at 7:56pm which is the approximate time that Neil Armstrong said his famous quote and stepped down onto the moon’s surface. *
Today I ask all who view this page to do a simple task. I promise it will not take long. Please take pause from the cold refreshments, the flame broiled barbecues, the hot dogs, steaks, and get-togethers. I ask that you spare a moment to think of all the soldiers who have fallen in this nation’s history so that you can enjoy the freedoms that you do today. That, afterall, is the meaning of this Memorial Day. If you are a religious person, you may want to say a prayer. If you are not, that is alright too. You can say “thanks” in your own way. Just think of all the men and women who have fought, bled, and died from the American Revolution to our current day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We enjoy the freedoms we have today in large part to the great people who have preserved our freedom from tyranny by serving in the military. Those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, we salute you this day; we also thank you. The great nation we live in today would not be possible without those brave enough to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
Hello readers! Today I would like to give a shout out to a buddy of mine. I just discovered he has a blog, and he does the blogging really well! The site is called The Catfish Splash, and he blogs about music, movies, and videogames. I think you all should check it out and add it to your daily websites that you visit. He is a good guy and I want you to check his site out. Please feel free to drop by and leave comments. Leaving comments really makes the author feel good, so help a buddy of mine out, make him feel happy!
I often ponder the actions of humanity and its place in the world. It is the nautre of a history major to contemplate such phenomena. Unfortunatley, I often see the dark side of the subject as it is what society seems to focus on. For a moment yesterday that did not happen. I quickly visited the CNN.com homepage to scan the headlines to see what was happening in the world when my eyes came accross the headline which read: “
