Tym
Well-Known Member
15 years ago to the day. My greatest hero died.
A man who taught me everything I needed to know about science. A man who's singly responsible for my life as it exists. A man whom I owe my career, my loyalty and my unbound admiration.
When I was a little boy I was restless, I was always on the go, I didn't have a care in the world. What did I want to be when I grew up? "I don't know" was my response. I had no direction, I had not a care in the world other than when I get to play with my friends, or if the little girl down the lane would want to spend another long summer day with me.
At the ripe age of 11, trauma struck. Life had taken on a new meaning, and I knew then that the world was not all fun and games. People die, and when they do, they never come back. We get but one life, and what we choose to do with it, is our burden.
With a relentless burning in my chest, I longed to make a difference in this world. I would have to find a way to make a difference, or I too would die, forgotten and in vein. Billions of lives succeeding my own without a clue, that a person such as I had ever existed. My burden was clear, I knew I had to make an impact on the world, or I would be forgotten like the countless others that had come before me.
Around that same time, now recluse. No longer satisfied with the simple pleasures of the world, I stayed home, in doors sedentary. All seemed amiss, pointless, my only thought was on death, and how my name might escape it. Late one summer night, a few days after my 12th birthday, I was watching T.V. Still new to me as while growing up, we didn't have one. I was watching PBS. One of the few channels we got on our set. I saw for the first time what I had been longing for, what could make the difference I needed so much in my life. Science.
The man on the screen would take me on a journey. Show me things I often asked questions about, but was never qualified with an answer. He had a way of talking, of accentuating the most meaningful parts, as so they would burn in to your mind. The scars of which are still very deep, and quite prominent.
The man had written books, on the same subjects as the television show! Having read all the books in our house, I begged my mother to get me the two books that I had know the man to author. A few weeks later, my mother came home from work with a book, it was one of them! I couldn't wait. At the age of 12, I sat in my room for 3 nights, and I finished the book.
A while later, I read another, and another. By now I was older, I was on top of my classes at school. I had a hunger for knowledge, my teachers always challenging me, and a couple times even moving up a grade level. Till Junior high school, I had my first real encounter with science and I was instantly in love. Around this same time the same man, wrote a new book! The book that changed my life.
A short time after, in the same year, the man died. Like others had in my life, but this time it was different, this time the man would never be forgotten. This man, more than any other had impacted my life. Had impacted the lives of countless others, and will go down in history through his works, and the knowledge he shared with the rest of us.
This man was, no IS my greatest hero. This man, who's life was cut short, Was my role model. He was the father I never had. I grew up with him, always taking the time to teach me why, not just what. Through countless books, taped lectures and other publications (I thank my science teachers for most of these), this man quenched my thirst for knowledge, and taught me how to find it for myself. This man didn't give me a fish, this man gave me a great net and sat me in front of the ocean and taught me how to cast out this net, and drag in everything in it's path.
This man, was Carl Sagan.
This man, died 15 years ago today.
The book that changed my life, was: Demon haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark.
This man, was the greatest man to have ever walked the face of the earth.
This man, I owe my life.
Carl Sagan.
November 9th 1934 - December 20th 1996
Missed my millions.
A man who taught me everything I needed to know about science. A man who's singly responsible for my life as it exists. A man whom I owe my career, my loyalty and my unbound admiration.
When I was a little boy I was restless, I was always on the go, I didn't have a care in the world. What did I want to be when I grew up? "I don't know" was my response. I had no direction, I had not a care in the world other than when I get to play with my friends, or if the little girl down the lane would want to spend another long summer day with me.
At the ripe age of 11, trauma struck. Life had taken on a new meaning, and I knew then that the world was not all fun and games. People die, and when they do, they never come back. We get but one life, and what we choose to do with it, is our burden.
With a relentless burning in my chest, I longed to make a difference in this world. I would have to find a way to make a difference, or I too would die, forgotten and in vein. Billions of lives succeeding my own without a clue, that a person such as I had ever existed. My burden was clear, I knew I had to make an impact on the world, or I would be forgotten like the countless others that had come before me.
Around that same time, now recluse. No longer satisfied with the simple pleasures of the world, I stayed home, in doors sedentary. All seemed amiss, pointless, my only thought was on death, and how my name might escape it. Late one summer night, a few days after my 12th birthday, I was watching T.V. Still new to me as while growing up, we didn't have one. I was watching PBS. One of the few channels we got on our set. I saw for the first time what I had been longing for, what could make the difference I needed so much in my life. Science.
The man on the screen would take me on a journey. Show me things I often asked questions about, but was never qualified with an answer. He had a way of talking, of accentuating the most meaningful parts, as so they would burn in to your mind. The scars of which are still very deep, and quite prominent.
The man had written books, on the same subjects as the television show! Having read all the books in our house, I begged my mother to get me the two books that I had know the man to author. A few weeks later, my mother came home from work with a book, it was one of them! I couldn't wait. At the age of 12, I sat in my room for 3 nights, and I finished the book.
A while later, I read another, and another. By now I was older, I was on top of my classes at school. I had a hunger for knowledge, my teachers always challenging me, and a couple times even moving up a grade level. Till Junior high school, I had my first real encounter with science and I was instantly in love. Around this same time the same man, wrote a new book! The book that changed my life.
A short time after, in the same year, the man died. Like others had in my life, but this time it was different, this time the man would never be forgotten. This man, more than any other had impacted my life. Had impacted the lives of countless others, and will go down in history through his works, and the knowledge he shared with the rest of us.
This man was, no IS my greatest hero. This man, who's life was cut short, Was my role model. He was the father I never had. I grew up with him, always taking the time to teach me why, not just what. Through countless books, taped lectures and other publications (I thank my science teachers for most of these), this man quenched my thirst for knowledge, and taught me how to find it for myself. This man didn't give me a fish, this man gave me a great net and sat me in front of the ocean and taught me how to cast out this net, and drag in everything in it's path.
This man, was Carl Sagan.
This man, died 15 years ago today.
The book that changed my life, was: Demon haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark.
This man, was the greatest man to have ever walked the face of the earth.
This man, I owe my life.
Carl Sagan.
November 9th 1934 - December 20th 1996
Missed my millions.
