I'm just a little more than three weeks out of my second total knee replacement and that many weeks in physical rehab, so I can't participate in person in tomorrow's March for Science in Denver.
See this. These scars are what science has done for me.
I know knee replacement is not a question of life and death like a heart transplant is. Like Insulin is. Like an intrauterine blood transfusion providing blood to an Rh-positive fetus is when fetal red blood cells are being destroyed by Rh antibodies. Like antibiotics and antivirals and vaccinations can be.
Benjamin Franklin was a rock star of a scientist at the birth of our nation. Electricity. No, he didn't invent it or, for that matter discover it, but he did identify it.
image from Wikipedia
And look what our scientists and engineers and inventors have done with it. Light in our homes, cooling, heating, preservation and preparation of food, transportation, communication, access to information from anywhere in the world and the universe.
a fan, a lamp, a computer monitor image from the ESA/Hubble telescope
in my living room
Dr. Franklin had no idea that all these things would come to pass. He just had an idea. And that's what continues to go on to this day. Scientists who discover something today or next week will likely have no idea what wonders can come of their discoveries. Can we deny these possibilities to our children and grandchildren? Imagine babies born without cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, children who do not develop diabetes, grandparents who do not develop dementia. No more cancer.
Those are just the medical marvels. My medical wish list. The other things that will come along I can't even imagine in order to wish for them. Maybe even an Earth that is a healthy habitat for life and colonies of human beings in Space.
Stand with me for Science
P.S. I just got a telephone call rescheduling my post-surgery follow-up. My surgeon, Dr. William Peace is being deployed to Afghanistan. Please keep him and all those in harm's way in your thoughts and prayers.
#atozchallenge
