This piece displays a quote from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. In his book, he writes “Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make because they lead little by little to the truth.” This quote appears in the novel when Professor Lidenbrock and Axel were discussing how the group of explorers, making their way to the center of the Earth, found a mistake in the calculations of their compass. Their mistake however, led them to a new direction towards the center of the Earth. This piece also provides a more concrete way of thinking about this quote by using the concept of a highway. Each part of this painting represents a different aspect of the journey from mistakes to greater understanding. The highway itself represents the journey through the mistakes that lead to truth and understanding. Lastly, and most importantly, the green highway signs represent examples of different scientific mistakes that have been made over the years that all led to some kind of truth about how we think about the world today. The first sign references Edwin Hubble’s wrong answer about the age of the universe when, in 1939, he poorly calculated, the rate of expansion, or "Hubble Constant." Because of his work, we now know that our galaxy is just a small speck in a universe and could be continually growing. It is commonly known that Benjamin Franklin was interested in electricity. Sometimes he even electrocuted animals to demonstrate different concepts of electricity. This phenomena, such as trying to animate a dead creature, was intended to teach the people and future generations about the different kinds of electrical reactions,. His liking for electrocution became famous when he was setting up for an experiment involving a turkey and electricity. He was struck by lightning while trying to demonstrate the effects of electrocution. Finally, Isaac Newton had a massive blunder when he presented the formula for calculating the mass of known planets in Proposition Eight of his The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. In this formula, he found the angles of the two particular lines to be 10.5 seconds, but later he accidentally used 11 seconds in his calculations. His error was overlooked for almost 300 years, until a 23-year-old student named Robert Garisto discovered this mistake. Like the explorers in Journey to the Center of the Earth, these scientists all went on a wild ride on the highway of mistakes, but through those mistakes, future generations learned a many important theories and lessons about the scientific world. This quote was important to me because it teaches one of the most important priciples of life. The mistakes we make are not always so bad. We can use those mistakes to help us learn and grow in our understanding of the world around us.
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Six-and-a-half years ago, Joyce Kleinman's life changed forever. Up until then, she was happily living her life in Indianapolis, a succesful businesswoman and the mother of two grown children. Her life was seemingly on cruise control. All of a sudden, in March of 2009 her world was turned upside down. Her daughter, age 33, and the mother of a young son, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as ALS. Her daughter's diagnosis, like so many other ALS patients, was completely unexpected. “It was complete and thorough devastation,” Kleinman said in an interview. She said that she was faced with a “cascade of emotions that were hard to put into one sentence.” Kleinman continued, "It's not fair." Her dauguther had her entire life ahead of her and now this. Most people only live at most a few years ater such a diagnosis. * * * ALS is a killer. However, Jenni does whatever she can to not let this disease take advantage of her. While she does not want to live with ALS, she uses her circumstances to teach us some valuable lessons about life. Kleinman said that Jenni had two wishes. Her first wish was pretty straight-forward, she didn’t want to live with ALS. Her second however, according to Kleinman, made a huge impact on how we think about our lives. Jenni wished to live her life in the moment. “We all have an expiration date," Kleinman said, “but we should act like we don’t have one.” Jenni teaches us everyday to life life to its fullest. To help Jenni live her life to the fullest, her mother established "The J Team and Jenni's Village." This is not only the name of the team that walks each year to raise money for the ALS Association, but it is a network of friends and family members who volunteer each day to help Jenni with anything from housework to transportation to shopping trips and excursions. Kleinman's efforts to support her daughter have been so successful that in August of 2014, Jenni, with the help of several "villagers," competed in the Eagle Creek Triathlon. Anyone who knows someone who is battling ALS, knows it is a devestating disease. It robs the body of its ability to move and takes away one's ability to speak. It spares the mind. This, however, may be the cruelest element. Through it all, Kleinman has been able to find the positives in such a difficult situation. While Kleinman says it is not fair for Jenni to have ALS, she also said, “We are all human.” Jenni has a lot of contributions to make to the community around her, many of which are intangible. She has a spirit to which people are drawn. When people are around her, she always makes them feel better about themselves and brings out the best in them In May of 2016, Kleinman hosted a very special 40th birthday celebration for Jenni. At that point, Jenni had already lived with ALS longer than almost any other person who had been diagnosed with that disease. It was a very speical evening. Jenni wrote the following words for that occasion: "To live a normal life is ordinary. I live an extraordinary life. There is beauty and humor everywhere. I'm continually learning how to relinquish control, accepting the illusion it is and surrendering to the unknown- oh so tricky. But the more I do the more I feel peace. " This is just one of the many lessons Kleinman points to that Jenni has taught those around her. The other important lesson she has come to learn is, “don’t judge people without stepping in their shoes.” People handle difficult situations differently. What works for Kleinman and her family may not be for everyone. Lastly, Kleinman says that Jenni has taught her to "step out of what you are dealing with and put yourself in other people’s shoes.” What may seem like an insurmountable problem, may not be when one stops to think about what people, like Jenni, have to go through just to live their daily life. Even though Kleinman's world was turned upside down by Jenni's diagnosis, she used her positivity, strength, and love of her daughter to adapt to her new life. She learned from her daughter that she just needs to keep moving on with life no matter what it throws at her. Lois Lowry’s The Giver was challenged because of the author’s use of literary elements that may expose young children to questionable topics. These may negatively influence them to act with unruly behavior. One detrimental element that Lowry demonstrates is the use of discriminatory language. “‘That’s right’ Lily said…'Like animals…’ often used to describe someone uneducated or clumsy, someone who didn’t fit in” (Lowry 29). this Not only does Lowry write about children using such language, she also alludes to them being unaware of what they are saying. This could teach the lesson that if children used that language in front of another person, it could impact that person negatively. Lowry also includes the public humiliation of children. The community leaders publicly ridiculed Jonas and Lily for not acting and dressing the same way as everyone else did. This may have lowered their self esteem and made them feel worse as a person, as if they did not fit in.
I do not believe that The Giver should be banned. As Americans, we believe that it is unconstitutional to ban media, because, we are given the right of free speech and press. If this book were banned, it would promote the idea that you could ban any book if you did not agree with its morals. A better solution is to recommend restricting it from children under the age of ten. While many challenged this book because of the controversial ideas presented, these ideas actually provide some meaningful teachings. For example, everyone is programmed for similarity, and Jonas tries to change them, though in the end it never happens. It is more difficult to conduct a society on completely fixed values. People should be more open and accept change, a fundamental skill in life.
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