In the days surrounding the planning of my future, I realized I did not have the time for you like I did before. And as much as I tried, on that plane, I could not recapture you in the way I had wanted. You were lost somewhere in the in-flight magazines and people-watching. You were lost in shuttles, interviews, paperwork. Hope.
And when everything worked out, you just weren’t the same. And on the road, you weren’t the same. You were there, but you were different. Disconnected from what you used to mean to me. And instead of trying to force that once again, I, for the first time since this started, let you fade into the past. I lived without you even though you were right there. Disconnected and different. There, but different. I can’t say I liked the feeling, but that is what life is.
Sitting in a hotel room, I sought you again. And you were still not the same. Where had our affair left us? Love has brought us here. Brought us to this disjointed place of memory.
I stopped seeking the feeling of the past and I let you slide away. I knew that we would never be separated and whenever I felt it again, I could seek you once more. And because of you, I stopped to think. The white guidelines and the exit signs served only as reminders and I thought about you. I thought about how I knew you were something special, the most perfect complement to everything that I was living and feeling. About how my interest in you led me to places I wouldn’t have found without you. You kept me on track even when I didn’t know what track I would be taking until moments before I embarked. And what you said, it wasn’t a lie. Things change. That’s all, things just change. My interest in you led me to this place. You and I, we make a wonderful team. Perfect.
And on that road, love, I reconnected with you in the middle of the night. A few other cars. You made the scenery beautiful. I found you on the road. I found you once again.
I have taken away your name here. I have made you anthropomorphic. I have made you vague and in that, I gave you the feeling back. Rather, you gave it back to me. I made you vague and I made you mine again. I found you.
I was watching Jeopardy! today and these people managed to answer questions about old, dead Italian writers, sports teams, expo locations, and locales in California, but when it came to the category of “ballistics,” I noticed something quite interesting.
The first question referred to what the origin of the word “ballistics” means. Now, you don’t even need to know the origin language to think about it logically and come up with a decent response. What is ballistics? Projectiles. What do we do with projectiles? A few answers would be acceptable here in the thought process: possibly to launch, to throw. Do you know what they came up with? To hit. That…that is not the same, guys, LOGICALLY THINK ABOUT WHAT A PROJECTILE IS!
Second question: This is the two word term for the speed of a projectile after it has left the barrel, measured in feet per second. First of all, speed is a scalar, so it wasn’t EXACTLY worded correctly, but for the sake of the question without giving away the answer with an extra free scoop of ice cream, I will let it slide. Let’s think about this. What are synonyms for a barrel? You know that first one I come up with is? Muzzle. Speed in any direction…velocity. Muzzle velocity. Do you know what they came up with? Nothing. Nobody even bothered to buzz in.
The next question was about some court case using ballistic forensics, so nobody cared, and of course, they got it right. The $1000 question? The name of the type of energy a bullet has, the conversion of chemical energy into this. Now, this, I think, is a basic physical concept that you learn in high school. Kinetic energy. The energy of things in motion. This is important, guys, because this is everywhere, all the time. This would be a good concept to understand, since it is what makes the world that most of us see function. Aaaaaaand what did they say? Nothing. Not a word. No buzzing in. Nothing.
Why is it that these “smart” people, who can rattle off answers about old dead people like they’re going out of style, failed to even buzz in in regard to a question about a very basic concept that is what powers all life and what is the result of powered life? Shouldn’t things like kinetic energy and velocity be things so basic and obvious and necessary to understanding life and the world that everyone should know them so well they don’t even have to stop and think about it? They can just insert them into logical thought progressions without hesitation because they know what they are?
We learn a lot of things in school, a lot of things we can say we know. Some about old, dead writers. Some about expo locations. Californian deserts. But in relation to the things we understand…they almost seem inconsequential if we don’t even have a grasp on basic world concepts.
I just found this interesting. What we know and what we understand are not the same. Perhaps schools should focus more on making people understand rather than making students know facts to regurgitate on tests. This isn’t about performance numbers every June, this is about performance in logical thought throughout life. Teaching for understanding is not teaching for fact. The distinction between the two is important.
And that’s a fact.
