08.18.06
This I Believe: Twelfth Post (Freedom and Science)
George Mardikian’s piece about coming to America was beautiful. You could feel how generous and humble he was (is?). Harold Hongju Koh’s essay about freedom and the desire for it was incredible. His descriptions of people’s faces and desire for freedom was amazing. Jacking Lantry’s piece about adopting Luke and the power of love was sweet and almost made me want to cry. The two most interesting of this group, however, were Alan Lightman and Thomas Mann’s. Written fifty years apart they both felt similar to me. Both reveled in scientific questioning, in everything that makes us human and not static. Lightman phrased it as “the unknown” and “mysteries” while Mann said “transitoriness”, but they seemed, at the core, to be looking for that same essential spark. Both were great essays, although they were quite different from one another. It was quite interesting to read.