(Snippets from the frontline)
Archimedes et al in tribute
He was a Greek mathematician who historians say was on the verge of developing calculus, but was deliberately killed by a Roman soldier around 212 BC. What if Archimedes survived?
Calculus is the mathematic basis of the modern era, therefore by 500 AD, we probably would have set foot on the moon. By 1000 AD, we would be living in the time of The Jetsons. By now, we would be beyond Mars, and hoping to leave the solar system.
But because of the action of one individual, we still languish on Mother Earth.
I grew up with the United Negro College Fund’s motto “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” When a deliberate action takes the lives of many young minds, we cease to move forward, and even step backwards.
The human race must find solutions to tragedies from Columbine to Florida. Simultaneously, let’s exam drive-by shootings in our cities, war in the middle east, and starvation in impoverished nations.
Like Archimedes, if these victims survived, our world could have expanded exponentially.
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” So is a life.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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