Epilogue

Epilogue/1 of 1 The book Timeline is by Michael Crichton, and was published in 1999. Since then, a movie has been produced based on the novel, which I believe is another extraordinary way to reach out to other audiences to fuel excitement for science. My story about the Costa Rican mission trip was a conversation that I had with Jonathon Anderson, the youth leader at the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, the church in which I am actively involved. Jonathon Anderson is a very good friend of mine, and our conversations about the coexistence of science and religion have extended that early morning conversation. While we disagree, we are peaceful about it, and he accepts that my beliefs cannot be swayed by his convincing. Both Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and Stephen Crane’s “The Wayfarer” come from Patchwork: A Sampler of (Mostly) American Poetry by Mr. Allan J. Ruter, director of the Glenbrook Academy of International Studies. The sonnet “Through a Lens” is an original sonnet written by myself. However, I give inspiration credit to “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and the two photos which ended the paper. I hoped to create a feeling of personal discovery and to try and rationalize the zeal for science which so many people possess, and which so many people scoff and misunderstand. The pair of photographs which appear last came from different internet sources. The astronomy photo was found on a blogging site RSS feed, which was titled “Astronomy Picture of the Day”. The photo of the molecule is actually a computerized model of the chemical Thujone. The astronomy picture best captures the immensity of the universe, and the Thujone picture compliments that image with an image of simplicity. Both photos together represent that the universe is neither simple nor complex: it is both.