The Stars Hold the Truth (A Rant)

Somehow, I seem to keep getting my homework done early. And it's not like I don't have a fair amount of it. It's just that I've found since I don't live in the dorm anymore, it's almost like I no longer have friends to hang out with and talk to about the important things, the silly things, the frustrating things. And I miss that. God, I miss that. Probably the one and only thing I miss about the dorms, but it's pretty damn important. While I'm happy where I am, I find myself feeling increasingly lonely. And that little voice keeps creeping into the back of my head. Haha, see, no one likes you. No one wants to hang out with you. You? You're not interesting at all. 

Of course, this mostly isn't true. I have gotten to hang out with some friends, but all of us work and have homework and live in different places now. It's not exactly like everyone else is hanging out with a bunch of people while I sit here sad and alone. Not quite that (yet). I just have this fear of being alone, of being easily forgotten, and these past weeks certainly haven't helped with that. Because while I like the independence, I certainly don't like eating dinner, breakfast, and lunch alone 75% of the time.

And the unfortunate thing is, I don't know how to fix it. That may sound ridiculous, but I really don't. I have horrible social skills. I don't know how to talk to strangers in my classes, especially since I know they're all older than I am. These horrible social skills, are, I'm sure, about 80% of the reason I've never had a boyfriend. Because I don't put myself out there. Not because i don't love talking or meeting new people, because I absolutely do. I just don't know...how. If that makes sense.

Anyway. The upside of this is that even with work and schoolwork, I have a little free time to read, run, mess around online, write, etc. The downside of this is that I begin to feel horribly uninteresting as I read about and watch the fantastically wonderful lives of others. Bleurgh.

So. Since I didn't work either day this weekend and finished a lot of my homework during the week, I spent a fair amount of my time this weekend watching Neil deGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan talk. Because I'm a nerd. Also, Neil deGrasse Tyson isn't just Stephen Colbert's God. He's my God as well. In a way. ;)

First, I would like to say that I wish I had known astrophysics was even a career path when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I never had that physics teacher or math teacher who inspired me to be great, who showed me the amazing things those scientific fields could accomplish. I mean, I knew from reading and watching TV the cool things physics could do with particles, the large hadron collider, etc. I even listened to a talk about quantum mechanics. And I was fascinated.

But I never had anyone tell me I could feasibly do those things. They seemed so out of my reach. And, let's face it, they probably are. I'm just not that smart. But, oh my GOD, that would be an awesome career. I truly don't know why we have stopped our kids from dreaming of becoming astronauts. In the 70s, so many kids wanted to be astronauts when they grew up. Now, I don't actually know anyone who wants to work for NASA or go into astrophysics. We've stopped dreaming of the stars.

But the stars hold all the truth. You will remember (perhaps) the blog I wrote in April about how I pray to the stars. How I know that my atoms, my elements came from those stars. That beautiful light exists in me. Those stars died a terrible, fiery death so I could exist.

Truly, as Tyson says, physics is poetic. It is magical. It holds all that is true. And it allows us to continue to dream. I am amazed every time I hear him speak about his enthusiasm and sheer intelligence. He truly wants everyone to understand the complex science he and others like him perform, because he wants us all to dream right along with him.

Oh, I'm dreaming, Neil. I may not be actively pursuing astrophysics (though I now kind of wish I was). But I'm dreaming of a future. I'm dreaming of the mysteries held in our planet, in the ocean. And I'm dreaming of the amazing unique complexities of our chemical molecules and atoms. Everything, everything that came from those same stars up above my head right now.

The stars hold the truth. Science holds the truth.

As another anectdote, during an interview Colbert did with Tyson, Tyson made a remark that we don't know what gives things mass, and Colbert replied, "So we don't know why we get fat?" While I know he meant that completely as a joke, it opened my eyes to a whole new sort of truth.

As a society, we focus on numbers. Calories. Weight. Clothing sizes. Etc. But none of those things really...mean anything. For example, my oceanography teacher mentioned on Friday that if you go closer to the equator, you weight less than you do at the poles on Earth. Just because of gravity and centripedal force. Really, what is weight?

According to Wikipedia: "the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity"

And, if you really think about that, you truly get an even deeper understanding of how arbitrary of a measurement weight is. It's ridiculous some of the things we focus on. Some of the things I focus on.

But science? Science is awesome. Science holds the answers to the questions about the universe, the questions that really matter. I was lucky to have amazing biology and chemistry professors, who truly deepened my love for and aptitude in science. And I know I'm on the right path when I'd rather do my organic chemistry homework (as complex as it can be sometimes) than read my psychology textbook (as interesting as some concepts may be). When I spend my Saturday evening drawing organic molecules on my computer and then looking at them in 3D. When I'd rather snorkel for hours than sit on the beach to get that attractive tan. When I'd rather my government spend money on funding space expeditions, ocean expeditions, and science camps for kids than on big name businesses.

Because in the end, I think science is really what matters. And our society, our world isn't going anywhere good if we ignore the importance of science. We need to aim for the highest scientific literacy in the world. We need to attract the best scientists, the smartest young kids, the most innovative technologies, so we can build the best programs and truly, truly, begin to explore again what makes us human.

We can learn a lot from the ancient people of Egypt, Greece, etc who looked to the sky and asked questions. They discovered so much without the technology we have today. Instead, we spend our time arguing over gay marriage and women's rights. Our civilizations came so far in ancient times, until all was forgot. We came so far, scientifically, again in the 1600s, 1700s, 1900s...We can't let all of that be forgot again, for the next generation 1000s of years in the future to rediscover.

Wheeeeeeeeeee. Sorry for the rant. But. But. SCIENCE IS AWESOME.

Just for the record, my new list "what I want to be when I grow up":
1. Marine biologist. Because, duh. The ocean holds so many mysteries we do not know. Also, sharks are cool. Also, so many other reasons, but we don't need to get into that right now.
2. Astrophysicist. THANKS NEIL.
3. Adventurer, mountaineer, and conservationist.
4. Maureen Johnson

Yep.

I'm going to stop ranting now, but I will leave you with this question: How does who marries whom, who loves whom, etc affect our lives and our existence more than the knowledge of black holes, supernovas, and the cosmic journey? Why don't we place more importance on science?

Tyson/Nye 2012!!! ;)

Cheers!

Word of the day: ululate--lament loudly and shrilly; wail.

Inspirational quote/photo of the day:

For the record, I'm with van Gogh (who I love). I know nothing, nothing with any certainty about our world. But the ocean makes my heart sing and the stars make my soul sing. I dream, even without the knowledge of how things work. I never stop dreaming.