Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation

 The ratification of the Emancipation Proclamation has put Abraham Lincoln at the top of a list of many Presidents that have truly changed America for the better.  On that cold, winter day of January 1st, 1863, Lincoln signed that document declaring the freedom of black slaves, but in the end, it truly did not free every slave.  Lincoln’s decision to only permit the freedom of slaves in the southern-occupied part played a key strategic role for the Union subsequently after.  The Emancipation Proclamation did not come without a heavy price to pay from northern workers and soldiers.  At the same time, the Yankee win at Antietam did not come at a better time because Lincoln wished to implement this monumental decree after a solid Union victory to stop any foreign intervention.  Lincoln was true conservative in the ideology that he only wished to issue the freedom of slaves to preserve the United States because without it this would never be an achievable goal.  In the end, the Emancipation Proclamation changed the course of American history forever.

                Before one can truly discuss Lincoln’s decision for the freeing of African American slaves, one must see where the discussion began.  Lincoln, as a congressman in 1848, saw slavery as an important issue in American politics.  He wished to end slavery by slow and constitutional means.  “In the plan he put forward while a congressman, in 1848, for emancipation in the District of Columbia, three factors were crucial: it had to be gradual, voluntary (it had to be approved by a referendum in the District), and compensated. But Lincoln's task, as war came, was to preserve the Union.”  Slavery had become a part of this nation’s past time, and so moving into the future, many political figures did not wish to approve of the idea of abolishing slavery.  During Lincoln’s presidency after the war had begun, he saw the freeing of slaves had given another initiative to fight and win the war.  It effectively tied slavery directly to the war.  The Emancipation Proclamation only brought freedom to those who were still under the control of the rebellious states of the South.  This was a politically savvy move for Lincoln who wished not to disturb the war effort of pro-slavery states that were under Northern control but effectively confuse the Confederacy and hurt the South’s labor force.  "If the Proclamation of Emancipation was essentially a war measure, it had the desired effect of creating confusion in the South and depriving the Confederacy of much of its valuable laboring force.”(Franklin)  At the same time, it gave a new reason for northern crusaders to fight in the war effort, for many abolitionists sought out Judeo-Christian principles that came from Bible scriptures.  According to William Wolf, President Lincoln "told his callers many times that his concern was not to get God on his side, but to be quite sure that he and the nation were on God's side. An interview in June 1862 with a delegation from Iowa led by Congressman James Wilson threw more light on this point. It revealed again Lincoln's strong predestinarian conviction about God's will.”(Wolf)  At the same time, Lincoln also saw this opportunity as a way to gain more troops for the Northern cause.  By the end of the war, almost 200,000 freed blacks fought on the side of the Union army.  In the end, I saw Lincoln’s conversation with Reverend Elbert Porter as a very interesting one.  Lincoln compared the emancipation of slavery to the plan of getting rid of a cancerous tumor.  He told a story of three physicians all of which agreed that the tumor at some point needs to be removed.  “One wants to poultice it and sweat it and so evaporate it. Another is positive that it should be taken out at once, that it should be cut and pulled out, even at the risk of the patient's life. But the third doctor says, 'Gentlemen, I differ from you both as to the treatment proposed. My advice is to prepare the patient for the operation before venturing on it. He must be depleted and an amount of his blood diminished.' Now, my opinion is that the third doctor is about right."(Lincoln)  The Emancipation of slavery in America, in the eyes of Lincoln, was a strategic way to increase Northern support of the war, increase the Union army,  effectively hurt the Confederate labor force and economy, and finally tie slavery to the fighting that was occurring throughout the country.

                Not only did the Emancipation Proclamation have a significant effect on America, but it played a significant role in foreign relations.  During the war, the South wished to obtain recognition from foreign powers such as England and France.  At the same time, Europe wished to prove that the American experiment in democracy would not last.  After the Trent Affair, tensions were high between the Union and foreign power England.  England was a key part of the southern economy because the production of cotton on southern plantations was important to the textile industry in England.  Before the Battle at Antietam, the South as well as England saw one more Confederate victory as a way of obtaining foreign recognition.  After the battle was won and Lee moved his troops back into Virginia, Lincoln saw this time as the perfect opportunity to pass the Emancipation Proclamation.  Lincoln hoped that the decree would stop any foreign intervention, and in the end it did.  Before the Proclamation, most of England was split in half over the American Civil War as some sided with the Union while others were pro-slavery.  Henry Adams, the son of the U.S. Minister to London, wrote: "The Emancipation Proclamation has done more for us here than all our former victories and all our diplomacy. It is creating an almost convulsive reaction in our favor all over this country....Public opinion is very deeply stirred and finds expression in meetings, addresses to President Lincoln, deputations to us, standing committees to agitate the subject and to affect opinion, and all the other symptoms of a great popular movement peculiarly unpleasant to the upper classes here because it rests on the spontaneous action of the laboring classes."  At the same time though, some foreigners argued that the Emancipation Proclamation was merely a political action.  Much of Europe was upset over the fact that Lincoln did not abolish slavery completely, but only in a place where he had no power or jurisdiction over.  They saw that document merely as a way to sway public opinion in Europe, as well as increase the likelihood of a slave rebellion.  Looking back this move in hindsight, Lincoln’s move to implement the Emancipation Proclamation was a gutsy move on his part because England had strong economic ties to the South that could be hurt by the freeing of Southern black slaves, but in the end, it effectively stopped any foreign intervention during the war especially after Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg that only strengthened the notion that the Emancipation Proclamation was made only implemented to preserve the Union.

                Even though the Proclamation was seen as a ploy to stop foreign intervention, and a way to tie the slavery to the war effort, much of the North saw the implementation of this document as a negative connotation.  Many northerners saw the freeing of Southern black slaves as a threat to jobs and way of life.  They feared that as blacks were freed from the grips of slavery, they would travel north and take the jobs of many new immigrants, who came to America for better work opportunities.  Northerners were increasingly put on edge because blacks could now take their jobs, but they were not subject to the same draft laws.  Many infuriated northerners took their opposition to the streets where many Colored Orphan Asylums and black neighborhoods were burned down killing over a hundred blacks, and injuring 300 more in the New York Riots of 1863.  In the end though, Lincoln was praised more than he was frowned upon by Northerners as a whole.  The Emancipation Proclamation brought new life to a war that was seen as merely brutal and bloody, especially after the pain and bloodshed that Antietam brought. 

                On that cold, first day of the year of 1863, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation could not have come at a more perfect time.  The tactic of tying slavery to the war proved to be a significant victory.  The document did more for the North than any previous military victory had done.  It effectively stopped any foreign intervention in the war because of the fact that slavery had been abolished in foreign countries such as England.  Foreign laborers sympathized for the Union effort to bring freedom to the enslaved blacks of the Confederacy even though the Union embargo of the South had really brought English textile mills to a screeching halt.  Even though many northerners saw the freeing of slaves as a threat to their job opportunities, Lincoln saw it as a way to preserve the nation, bring new life to this bloody engagement, prove that under the Constitution all men are created equal under God, and that the bloodshed lost during this war would make up for 200 years of bloodshed lost because of the ruthless evils of slavery. 

 

Works Cited

“Emancipation Proclamation.” PBS.  May 9 2012.   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1549.html

Jones, Shannon. “The Enduring Significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.”  2 June 2004. May 9 2012. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jun2004/linc-j02.shtml.

Guelzo, Allen C. “Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America.” Simon & Schuster. 2004

“Mr. Lincoln and Freedom.”  The Lincoln Institute. 2002-2012. May 9, 2012. http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=39&subjectID=3

 “Emancipation Proclamation.” PBS.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1549.html

Industrialism in America

 During the period of industrialization in the United States of America, life changed forever within the eyes of American citizens. The entire social structure changed with regard to religious views, views on the concept of meaning, education, the idea of social Darwinism, as well as the rise of women in society.  In addition, the entire economic structure of America changed into the centralization of production and marketing because of the rise of industrialism, technological advances, and the rise of urbanization and megacities.  With the significant change in economics in the United States, there were many subsequent political changes because of differences that rose between the working class citizens and manufacturers and the industrial tycoons who held most of the industrial capital of America. 

During the time period from 1885-1915, the social structure of America changed as a redirect correlation with Industrialism.  The change in culture and value during this period was known as modernization.    Americans' views on religion, the concept of meaning, education, social Darwinism, as well as the rise of women in society all changed significantly during this time period.  A major element of change during this time was the concept of meaning.  The concept of meaning relates to ideas on the meaning of life, the meaning of the world, and how humans play a role in it.  These changes in thought came as a result of new scientific discoveries that grabbed the attention of society during this time.  Evolution paved the way for people to question ideas set forth by the church that had been set in place for many years.  Evolution brought on the notion that species changed over time to better themselves within their habitat which led to new types of animals.  This idea of evolution was a direct contradiction of the creation story in the Bible which said that God put all the animals on earth at one time.  “Darwinism and the higher criticism movement changed religious belief in the creation, or whether to take the Bible literally anymore.” (pg. 39)  By the late 19th century, religious culture began to diverge into two streams: Modernism and Fundamentalism.  Modernism, which took place in the ever changing life of the city, was believed in the commitment to freedom of choice as Fundamentalism came off as more pessimistic and began to stress an orthodoxy base belief system which believed in Biblical literalism or belief in the Bible as it was scripted.  This idea was based mostly in the countryside where traditional ideas stayed implanted in society for much longer.

Education was also revolutionized during this time as family views on education changed.  “The diffusion of knowledge through education provided a background that encouraged greater individual choice.  There were two contexts in which education took place.  One was in the schools, the setting for changes in formal education, and the other in the realm of daily life, where privately organized lectures and institutes began to reach more people, where adults on their own began to read more widely and deeply.”(pg. 26, 27) This new excitement led people to expand their horizons outside that of the immediate family.  As a result, there was an increase in children entering public and private schools.  The amount of high school graduates increased as well.  Urban high school systems brought children from all over the city and surrounding areas to one school instead of small schools which enabled sociocultural mingling for the first time.  Families encouraged their children for the first time to better their education to enable them to compete for a life in the cosmopolitan world.  “The general growth of scientific knowledge throughout the period provided wider options for the educational enterprise.”(pg. 28-29)  As museums and universities sent professors and scientists around the world to study new ideas in science, they brought back new knowledge that paved the way for new magazines such as Scientific American and Popular Science.  This wave of knowledge was capped by the Chautauqua Movement, an adult-education organization which went around the nation to teach this new scientific knowledge to thousands of curious Americans. 

This idea of progress, and the bettering of human life did not stop with education and other social reforms, as women sought out to better themselves in this rapidly changing American society.  “The persistent enhancement of individual choice was also manifested in the changing role of women from work almost exclusively in the home to a gradual involvement in activities outside of it such as civic services.”(pg. 31)  As these social reforms continued woman played a role outside the house by getting jobs as nurses and teachers, and in 1894, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs was established in which women discussed issues from civics affairs, the treatment of children, and the beautification of communities.  By 1900, women could buy, sell, and own property.   The culmination of the women’s movements in the United States was the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution which gave women the right to vote in 1920.

                During the era of Industrialization, America saw many changes in urbanization and economics occur as a result of Progressive Movement.  This movement saw changes in economic growth and development in places such as cities, the rise of urban areas around the cities, as well as an increase of transportation.  “Commercial places were centers of regional development, cultural life, and local government, and they organized the economic relationship between town and country as an interdependent whole.”(pg. 48)  As the Industrial boom took off, port cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore as well as Mid-West cities such as Cleveland, Chicago, and Pittsburgh became the central areas of business in the country.   “As a result, towns sought out state legislature to provide funds for transportation and other establishments to bring in employment and business.”(pg. 49)  As a result of this urbanization, private investors and developers brought new houses, factories, and transportation systems in outlying areas as individuals as well as whole cities poured in capital to make such changes.    

With these changes to American urbanization and industrialization, it led to many political and economic changes.  “In the 1870’s, “the pool” was formed, which was a gentleman’s agreement enforceable by law that was put in place to establish minimum prices, to control production, and allocate prices.” (pg. 71)  This idea of “the pool” did not work so, in turn, businesses initiated the trust, which was the ability for people to get dividends with their stock, but forgo their vote, which was left to a small group of trustees, but this too was abandoned because it interfered with common law and state statute.  This was superseded by a holding company, “a single firm that held a controlling share of the securities of subordinate firms.  This was passed by New Jersey Legislation in 1889, which then became home to a considerable portion of the nation’s industrial enterprise.” (pg. 71, 72)  The rise of the industrial economy also brought on Intercompany corporations which led to the rise of monopolization of manufacturing capital.  With this increased capital, many of the corporate heads were able to buy their way into government or give monetary support to sway government officials’ ideology.  Corporative groups also led to price fixing in products such as steel, tobacco, and coal as well price fixing in the transportation industry in regards to railroad fees.    As a result, manufacturers and merchants were seemingly unhappy and created an uproar which led to governmental intervention.   As a result of Supreme Court decisions, The ICC, or Interstate Commerce Commission, instilled the Hepburn Law, “which granted  the Commission power to establish new legal rates when it declared old ones void.”(pg. 77)  They also sought increased improvement in river improvement through government appropriations which were granted through the National Rivers and Harbors Congress in 1905.

Many organizations also sought out laws in regard to wages and labor.  “The National Consumers League used their influence to provide more humane labor conditions, the National Child Labor Committee worked for laws to abolish or limit child labor, and the American Association for Labor Legislation, an organization of lawyers and intellectuals, drew up humanitarian legislation.”(pg. 104) Labor Unions as well as collective bargaining became a significant topic during this time as well.  “Entrepreneurs feared organized labor because it constituted a factor in industrial production seldom easily manipulated.  Arguing that collective bargaining was illegal and un-American, business demanded wages and working conditions be determined by individual workers and the corporation, a situation that management could control far more easily than collective bargaining.”(pg.74)  Labor Unions and collective bargaining after many disputes, were recognized as the proper techniques of industrial relations.

During the 1900 census, the government saw a sharp decrease in the farm population.  As a result, many civic leaders initiated a program to help to promote a more profitable and attractive rural life.  “The movement received official sanction and considerable aid from Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 when he established the Country Life Commission.” (pg. 136)  Experts were sent in to help promote agricultural science and technology.  The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 provided grant-in-aid funds to bring permanency to the plan and make it available to every county in the nation.  They also sought out education reforms to schools to promote agricultural education through the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. 

     In conclusion, the period from 1885 to 1915 marked a profound transformation in American society. Industrialization reshaped religious thought, expanded educational opportunities, altered gender roles, and centralized economic power. It prompted political reform, labor activism, and government regulation. The changes of this thirty-year span laid the foundation for modern American society, influencing economic systems, political structures, and cultural debates that continue into the present day.

Works Cited

1.       “The Response to Industrialism 1885-1914. Samuel P. Hays. Second Edition. The Chicago History of American Society. The University of Chicago Press. 1995.

Let There Be Light - Neural Synchrony and Selective Attention in a Student's Brain

             Growing up, we’ve all heard the expression: “It’s like a light bulb went off in my head.” Most people treat it as a simple metaphor. But the more I’ve studied physics and neuroscience, the more I’ve realized that while it isn’t literal light, something just as fascinating is actually happening.

At the most fundamental level, the universe runs on interactions governed by the electromagnetic force. In physics, charged particles interact through electromagnetic fields, and energy is never created or destroyed — it is transferred. Conservation of energy and momentum govern everything from subatomic particles to galaxies.

Inside the human brain, the same fundamental force is at work — not in the quantum mechanical sense of particles exchanging photons, but in the classical, biological sense of electrical signaling. Neurons communicate through electrochemical processes. Sodium (Na⁺) and potassium (K⁺) ions move across the neuron’s membrane, creating changes in voltage. When that voltage reaches a threshold, the neuron fires an action potential — a rapid electrical signal that travels down the axon and communicates with the next neuron at a synapse.

This communication is not random. It becomes especially powerful when networks of neurons synchronize their firing patterns. Research in attention and perception — including work by neuroscientists such as Robert Desimone — shows that when we focus on something, neurons responding to that stimulus increase their coordination. In particular, rhythmic activity in the gamma frequency band (about 30–100 Hz) is often associated with attention, working memory, and conscious awareness.

When you concentrate deeply on a subject, the relevant neural circuits become more synchronized. The signal strengthens. The noise decreases. Connections that were previously weak can suddenly integrate into a coherent pattern.  And that moment — when scattered activity suddenly organizes into a meaningful whole — feels like a light bulb turning on.

Recently, while teaching my 7th grade class about the nervous system for their research paper on whether headphones contribute to hearing loss, I experienced exactly that moment. As I explained how neurons communicate electrically, I suddenly connected it to the metaphor of the “light bulb going off.” I laughed out loud as a vivid image formed in my mind. My students asked what was funny, so instead of launching into electrodynamics, I drew simple diagrams on the board.  In two minutes, their energy shifted. They leaned in. They became curious.

That brief exchange reminded me of something powerful: learning is strongest when attention and interest align. When students are engaged, their brains are not just passively receiving information — their neural circuits are actively synchronizing around the material.

This helps explain why people excel in subjects that genuinely interest them and struggle in those that don’t. Attention enhances neural efficiency. Interest recruits reward systems in the brain, releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine that strengthen synaptic connections. The brain quite literally becomes better at processing what it cares about.

That’s why constructive conditioning matters — especially for children and teenagers. Rewards, encouragement, and positive reinforcement increase motivation and focus. When attention improves, neural coordination improves. When neural coordination improves, learning becomes more durable.

Adults are not so different. The rewards may change — money, achievement, recognition — but the underlying biology remains the same. Motivation shapes attention. Attention shapes neural activity. Neural activity shapes learning and performance.

So when the “light bulb” goes off in your head, visible light is not flashing inside your skull. But something just as real is happening: energy patterns in your brain are reorganizing. Neurons that were firing separately begin firing together. A new connection forms. An idea becomes conscious. It feels like illumination because, in a sense, it is — not optical illumination, but cognitive illumination.

The same physical laws that govern the stars also govern the sodium ions crossing a neuron’s membrane. And from those tiny electrical shifts emerges thought, understanding, creativity, and laughter in a classroom.  Maybe the light bulb metaphor isn’t so far off after all.

The Presidential Position Through My Eyes

 I close my eyes and emerge at a time and place.  Standing before me is an audience, a crowd of thousands, all watching as my mind turns thoughts into words with the sword that is my tongue.  Goosebumps fill my soft, white skin throughout as I turn my finger to key.  I open my eyes, and think about the presidential position.  Aspirations of the highest level of government in the land have coursed through my mind for years, inspired by Barack Obama and the many great presidents that have come before him.  Although I follow no party lines, I think of the many triumphs, achievements, and pitfalls of those who came before me as I ponder the position.  What would I do about the economy, society, diplomacy, and the military?  Thoughts and questions I wish to write to you about today, a compilation of correspondence between me and the world.  

Business, economics, what a conundrum to begin with as we lay out the foundation of a manifesto of a man who wishes to bring change and clarity to the world clearly seeking it.  I think back to my studies of Adam Smith in 1776 and his book Wealth of Nations.  He laid out the groundwork, the foundation, of modern day capitalism.  He believed in laissez faire economics where the government plays a limited role in the economy.  Although this article is not about one man, I must write to you today to talk about the pitfalls of Donald Trump.  It is worrisome to think that he is shying away from the core principles of capitalism in some regards.  The U.S. government is now major shareholders in pivotal corporations.  As a leaning conservative who listened to Reagan speak about this potential problem, I can't help but sit and contemplate how disastrous this can be to the economy and to the competitive nature that capitalism brings.  Private capital and private capital only should be invested into the market.  To bring the government in as a controlling interest in a corporation leads to a competitive advantage to those who have gained favor by the government in terms of capital investment..  The government now gets ownership and controlling interests in exchange for a piece of the pie in terms of stock ownership. 

Investment should instead be made into the following things: healthcare, scientific research, and infrastructure on a broad spectrum.  Healthcare and the common good should be of the utmost priority of the President.  The priority of the government is to maintain the well-being of the people.  To avoid or defund such measures is to turn one’s back on the people.  Providing subsidies to the people, hospitals, and healthcare companies should bring down the cost of care for all while using tax payer money for something that provides for the common good.  To remove such capital injections would cause price increases across the board. As I continue this story, we stop at research and development.  It is the job of the U.S. government to provide business and institutions grants to well deserved individuals in science and technology.  Research is a grueling and time-consuming process that requires large sums of money in hopes of one day turning a profit.  To defund research, is to lead to the demise of our very nation.  Research into bio-technology, engineering, and clean energy is of the utmost importance.  We must lead the world in these categories to maintain our status as the world leading economy.  As we lead into the final aspect of government allocation into the economy, I stop at infrastructure.  To maintain the roads, airports, building structures, and bridges throughout the United States is crucial.  Our roads and airports are the lifeline of our nation.  Without upkeep, it creates travel problems that will inevitably hurt the people and business interests alike.  

As we fast-forward, it brings me to the topic of society.  Social order is tantamount to create favorable living conditions of a nation.  We shall begin with the concept of marriage and home life.  Marriage is the union of two people, and shall not be impeded by the government regardless of race or gender.  To meddle into the lives of private citizens is not the job of the government and never will be.  Regardless of one’s religious leanings, we live in a country based on the principles of individual liberties leading one to deduce that love is love regardless of who it is with.  Citizenship has come to the forefront of my mind, leading me to wonder what can be done to fix the immigration problem.  Instead of using brute policing to corral thousands if not millions of working men, women, and children into cages, provide a clear and simple process of obtaining citizenship.  I know of a woman who is trying to gain citizenship and has paid tens of thousands of dollars in order to do so and she’s not there yet.  To make things fair and equitable for everyone, the government should implement measures that make it clear, simple, and cost effective to gain passage and citizenship in this melting pot of a nation we call the United States of America.   To burden the people with financial struggles who wish to better their lives, is to provide a disservice to humanity.  Lastly, the state of America’s police force is in disrepair.  To target people based on race or color is a thing of the past and should be left there.  The government should force police organizations to take culture and diversity courses to improve their knowledge of the people they protect and serve.  We have a society that has created individual prejudices and pre-conceived notions against people of color.  To target people of color saddens me to no end and it must end.  We must create a peaceful coexistence between the police and the people.  We live in such a polarized society, created by the incumbent powers that be.  We must reverse such measures now and forever and build a future where the police and members of society can live in understanding of each other and remove those who wish to fall short of their duty to maintain such balance and order.    

Diplomacy, a term used to describe relationships amongst nations.  Building a strong and co-dependent relationship with China is of the utmost importance.  To maintain peaceful relations with the second largest economy in the world creates order both foreign and domestically.  A positive relationship with the Chinese will create a global order that has strong roots, a foundation for which the rest of the world can learn from and emulate.  In addition, we must respect the rule of law and national sovereignty.  To attack nations who have established governments and a working legal system is detrimental to geo-politics.  We must use logic and reasoning instead of brute force to bring about dually supported, positive change.  Wars to gain political and economic advantages should be put into the past.  

Living in Augusta, I have had a first hand experience with the military.  Fort Gordon is the cyber command center for the U.S. Army.  In addition, both my parents were in the military in their teens and twenties.  Maintaining the military and its personnel is something that is quite important to me.  Building a strong and effective military provides the protection a nation needs from threats throughout the world.  It provides peace of mind to a nation and its people that the men and women who risk their livelihood are well compensated and taken care of during and after their time in the military.  In addition, we must continue to allocate funds to improve both military technology and infrastructure to lead the world in such categories.  Power is instilled by fear and mutual respect for the destructive power of thy neighbor.  Although this is the caveman mentality, it is the honest truth of the matter and the world.  Military might must be maintained by allocating what is necessary and proper to maintain a well equipped army of land, sea, air, and space leading into the 21st century and beyond.  

Although it is but a dream, dreams are realized through effort, time, and the will to succeed through insurmountable odds.  To live is to learn, to learn from those who came before you.  To take what has worked and throw away what hasn’t.  The most important aspect of a presidency is the people’s belief in them.  To walk tall, and stand behind and believe in their cause.  To improve the economy is to maintain the status of laissez faire economics, to keep the government out of the economy unless it is to protect the people and the environment.  It is the job of the president and his government to protect the sanctity of society, to promote the justness and fairness of others before the law, to leave the individual to do as they please.  As a man who has studied and taught every religion, I feel it has no place in politics and only in the home and community in which you reside.  Diplomacy is achieved through meaningful and empathetic relationships built over time.  To achieve peace is to serve the nation and the world as a whole.   Peace leads to unity and prosperity for both the U.S. and the world for volatility leads to panic and economic stagnation and regression.   

As this story comes to an end, I close my eyes once more.  I picture a world better than today.  In a country polarized by politics, it is hard to see the good, but it is there.   The future is always one moment away, so seize the moment, become educated, and never stop believing in what is right.  The presidential position shall follow suit with his people, striving to live good, and to never fall short of the promises given.

Are There Other Earths Out There and Can We Get To Them?

 As we, human beings, have evolved over time, our thinking processes have significantly changed.  As early land dwellers of the African Rift around 300,000 years or so ago, our early ancestors were nomads whose only goal or thought process was to feed and protect oneself and one's family.  As time passed and our brains evolved, we became more logical creatures capable of many new things such as making weapons, creating a means of communication, and even exploring across the interconnected continents of what are now Africa, Asia, and Europe.  From nomads we progressed into civilized beings who settled areas in which grew into communities, towns, and eventually mega-cities of which we are accustomed to living, commuting, or vacationing to today.  The ambition of the human race to explore our boundaries of this great Earth has shown no limits to our race across the sands of time and land.  We have endured great challenges and triumphs that have pushed our race to the limits of our very existence, but like any determined civilization we lived on to tell the tale of the history of mankind.  We lay at yet another forefront of our existence as intelligent creatures.  I'd like to think that mankind will live on for millions if not billions of years from now, but as always, time will only tell.  Will our barbaric, competitive, and overall cut-throat society evolve into a civilization that looks past our primitive mindset of hate, jealousy, and ignorance to see the light shine on such an amazing creation of which we truly are?  Each one of us is a diamond in the rough, yet few realize just how special each of us truly are.  This leads me to think about Earth and just how special she really is, or is she? Is Earth apart of a rare breed of planets or one of trillions if not quadrillions of Earth-like planets in the known universe that we live in and whether we live in a multi-verse  of universes is speculation since we’ve never gone outside this realm of existence, but theoretically speaking there could be an infinite number of Earth-like planets with an infinite amount of intelligent life forms living within this multi-verse and this is absolutely mind-blowing to even ponder within our minuscule minds.

Is Earth the first, final, and only destination of the human race?  The first part of that question is quite puzzling for I do not know as much about ancient history of the human race as I should.  As we grow technologically and scientifically at such an alarming and in quite an awe-inspiring manner, one cannot help but contemplate the future inhabitants of us humans.  Will we go on to colonize space in the next half century?  It is only logical to think that in order for us as a race to live on, we must branch out from our origins just as our ancestors did millions of years ago from the African Rift.  Our planet is far too small, and our scientific advances far too advanced in terms of human life expectancy to have all of us stay on Earth forever, it just is not possible.  The question rises, who will get to go?  Will it be those who are significantly wealthy and powerful who get to branch out upon the last frontier of human exploration?  Will it be those who possess the tools and the knowledge to survive out on the wild frontier who first get to leave the gravitation grip of Earth for good? I read of a man who is designing the first stage of interstellar space travel in which his craft will go 123,000 mph, give or take a thousand miles per hour.  I even designed a craft based on nuclear fusion and anti-matter that could maybe even surpass this speed, but anti-matter is rather expensive to produce, and even within a strong magnetic field , it is still hard to store it for long periods of time.  In order to get to a nearby star within our life-time we'd have to design and build a space-craft that traveled nearly half the speed of light.   

  t= t0/(1-v^2/c^2)^1/2

t = time observed in other reference frame on Earth

t0 = time observed by person in space

v = velocity of moving object

c= speed of light in a vacuum

So if an observer on the space craft is gone for 20 years is moving at .50c, then the solution would be

t = 20/(1-(.50c)^2/c^2)^1/2

t = 20/.75^1/2      (the c^2's cancel out during this step because .50c^2 cancels out c^2 so your left with .                          75^1/2)

t =  23 years of time elapsed on Earth, and that time grows larger for someone stationary on Earth as the space traveler moves towards the speed of light in the craft which is 186,000 miles per second.

In terms of special relativity, as one gets closer to the speed of light, one moves slower in time, yet as an object gets closer to the speed of light, the objects mass increases towards infinity as a function of velocity, yet one must accelerate and decelerate in an uniform velocity due to the gravitational forces exerted by the crafts propulsion system where acceleration can be seen as the same as gravity. Thankfully with new nuclear fusion technology, we may one day build a fusion reactor on a spacecraft that can create enough energy off from water or solar energy to create enough electricity to power lasers to start the fusion process, so that thought of interstellar travel or at least interplanetary travel isn't as far-fetched as one is led to believe.  In the end, if one is able to produce a spacecraft that can create a magnetic field, and people are willing to procreate on board, and we have the financial backing, and the technology to do so, the stars are the limit for the human race.

This also crosses my mind quite often these days since a group of my students asked me awhile back if I thought there were Earth-like planets out there in the galaxy or universe.  I replied to them that statistics alone rules that there must be other Earth-like or habitable planets out there.  Each star has its own Goldi-Lock zone in which the temperature of a given planet is just right in which it is capable of having liquid water, which in my opinion, is a necessity for life.  I told my students that day I would go home and do the math for them to see how many Earth-like planets there are in the universe, and the number is absolutely crazy.  Given the fact that not all galaxies are the same size and some are much more hostile considering there are galaxies that are in their infancy or colliding/merging with other galaxies the number is just a ballpark estimate, but here's the basic math: 6 X 10^10 habitable planets in our galaxy(60 billion) x 1x10^11(100 billion galaxies) = 6 x 10^21 possible habitable planets in the known universe.  6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible planets exist In the universe that could harbor life if they don’t already do.  Although not every habitable planet may not be suitable for us to live on, it is completely irrational to think that we could not diffuse the human race across the nearby galaxy.  In the realm of physics, matter tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, so why shouldn't this law not apply to human beings, it seems only logical to increase the chances of the survival of us as intelligent beings?

The newly discovered exoplanet is actually about 1.5 times bigger than Earth, so it’s known as a ‘super-Earth’. The planet, KOI (Kepler Object of Interest) 172.02, is following an orbit that is well within the habitable zone of a star that is rather similar to our Sun

Read more at http://planetsave.com/2013/01/11/twin-earth-discovered-koi-172-02-most-earth-like-planet-yet-found/#AzIWxHZ2yyuGcovU.99 

Joshua's Story

 Sometimes life is not fair.  Sometimes life will leave you wondering why?  Sometimes a mother has to bury her son, thinking over and over again in her mind that it should be the other way around.  On that early summer evening in 2008, I received a call.  I was working at the Hellen Diller Vacation Home for the Blind in Avalon, NJ.  As I answered the phone, I heard the words, “Yo man, I’m not sure if you heard, but Josh passed away today in a motorcycle accident.  I am so sorry to have to tell you this.”  As I hung up the phone, the life and energy escaped me, all that was left were tears and emptiness.  A boy, just 18 years old, killed by a drunk driver on the way to see his family.  Here’s the story of Joshua.  

As I rewind back the years of my life, I emerge at a place far in the past.  Josh and I began playing baseball together when we were 7 years old.  Although we lived and played baseball in different areas of town, I built a relationship with his family over the years of playing baseball.  

As we fast-forward ten years, we re-emerge at my senior year of high school.  I transferred to Sacred Heart High School, a private Catholic School in my hometown of Vineland, NJ.  Josh and I finally went to school and played baseball on the same team.  I remember that year quite well, Josh would bat first in the lineup and would always find a way to get on base.  Josh was a magnet for injuries though.  Every time you turned around, Josh was getting injured on and off the field.  In the line of injuries, he succumbed to, I was guilty of causing one of those injuries.  I will never forget that evening during indoor winter practice.  Before we went into the first cage for soft toss, a popular baseball drill, we would take practice cuts to get our swing right before we started live practice.  As I was practicing my swing, I took one swift cut of the bat and on the back swing I hit Joshua right in the eye.  His eye was swollen shut almost instantly.  To this day, I have not been able to forgive myself for what I did to him at practice that day.

As I move this story forward, we will stop and reflect on that faithful June night in 2008.  After I ended the call with my former teammate, I emerge from the conversation back to the chatter of a room full of children.  One, two, three are the tears that are now dropping, and soon flowing from my tear ducts as the pain of his demise now comes flowing from the bottom of my soul.  I couldn’t believe he was gone.  I was just with him the night before.  From the back driveway of Abel’s mom’s home, Robert, Abel, and I watched as Josh left on the same bike that would later lead to his demise the very next day.  

And as the tears streamed down my face, my girlfriend, my co-workers, and the children came rushing to see what was wrong.  I relayed the message as I wiped tears from my eyes, “I just lost a friend of mine.”  As the children and my girlfriend came closer to comfort me in this tragedy, I got pulled aside by the camp director.  She scolded me for showing emotion in front of the children.  In the moment, I was very frustrated with the lack of empathy by my boss, but I could understand that the children did not need to see me in such a distressed emotional state.  As I left the conversation, I sat on the front porch and made some phone calls before heading back to Vineland to mourn the loss of Joshua Moren with Abel, Robert, and the rest of our friends that lost apart of themselves that day.  We stayed up all night in Robert’s back patio, reflecting and mourning the loss of our friend with none more heart broken than Joshua’s best friend, Abel Gonzalez.

Josh or “Chino” as his friends called him, was killed by a drunk driver.  The woman had children in the car and was a repeat offender.  She was found guilty of DUI and vehicular homicide, but eventually died from cancer of the liver in prison, certainly karma caught up to the woman who took my friend’s life.  As a result of this terrible tragedy, a NJ state law was passed in his name, “Joshua’s Law.”  I was present with my friend Robert Green when the bill was signed into law in Millville, NJ.

As I sit here and write these very words, it pains me to think of the lives of Grace and Chuck, the mother and father Josh, whose lives were forever altered on that day.  As I enter the funeral home, my emotions succumb once again to my bitter thoughts, suddenly bursting into tears as I make my way to the casket.  I greet Chuck and Grace with open arms before I kneeled before my friend to pay my respects to the young man taken from the world and from his family too soon.  I went on to leave the funeral service and ventured off to my college summer league baseball game.  In honor of Josh that day, I pitched a complete game shutout in 95-degree heat.  

As the years went by, the memories of Josh continued to live on.  Robert, one of my best friends back home, created a charity softball tournament in Josh’s name.  The legacy of Josh and all the lives that he touched lived on in his name and through the game of slow pitch softball for the next 8 years.  I still remember driving Chuck home from the first annual tournament.  Since I lived down at the Jersey shore for my job that summer and was not able to buy a memorial shirt, Chuck took the shirt off his back in the car and handed it me saying, “Here you go son, it is yours now.  Thank you for everything y’all did to honor my boy today.  I love you.”  

As I carried the official tournament sign to the house for him, I could sense the raw emotions and pain in his heart as I studied his eyes and body language.  As we sat and chatted for a little while, others started to show up including Abel.  As the group on the front stoop of Chuck’s home began to grow, I decided to leave and get home as it was getting late.  I couldn’t help but walk away from that moment with growing feelings of pain and sorrow as I watched my friend’s dad kill the pain with a hefty swig of his tall boy Heineken.

For the lives of others outside the family, life always goes on, but for a family of a loved one lost so soon the pain never goes away.  As we continue this story, time speeds up past our view, and we emerge in the summer of 2015.  Although Chuck, Grace, and I have always maintained a close relationship over the years, our time together was few, but the summer of 2015 saw a rekindling of our lifelong relationship.  You see I needed a job, and Chuck needed a reliable ground man to work for his tree company, Joshua’s Tree and Lawn.  I sit here and reminisce about my first day.  I walked up to his garage along the path of his driveway.  As I look beyond and behind the trailer, I see Chuck sitting in a chair below the original sign made for the softball tournament.  As he sees me, a huge smile stretches across his face.  On that day, and that summer in 2015, Chuck Moren made me a man.  From making phone calls, to writing invoices, to doing his taxes, to carrying 300-pound pieces of wood all day every day, I learned the value of hard work.  Chuck is an interesting man as you will see.  On lunch breaks, he would kindly force me to do 500 pushups before we went back to work.  It got to the point that I could do 1,000 pushups in less than ten minutes.  That summer and fall, I spent almost every waking moment with Chuck Moren.  I would work all day with him, go home and take a shower, then head right back to his place to talk about life for the rest of the night.  He would always comment on the fact that he would drink in front of me every day, and never did I ask him for one.  That summer Chuck started to let go of the pain and anger over the loss of his son.  As I also learned that summer, others will need you just as much as you need them.  

As summer turned to fall and then again to winter, I emerge in a scene from the memory of my subconscious.  This memory is not of Chuck, but of Grace, my high school guidance counselor, and I at the dining room table of Grace’s house, the childhood home of Joshua.  As we sit at the table and laugh and talk about the past years, the conversation comes to a close, and what came next was something I had never bear witness to before.  As I sat at the lead chair at the dining room table, around me the two women began praying.  Grace was not praying in English, but was instead speaking in tongues.  She prayed for her son and for all those present in the room.  Grace is but a small, Filipino woman, but in that moment her words and energy carried many times her weight.  The evening ended with dinner, and solo chat with Grace in the living room about scripture and what part I enjoyed most.  I told her I had recently enjoyed the lessons and teachings of Proverbs.  We spoke about the lessons on life and relationships spoken about in Proverbs before agreeing to go to church together the next morning.  

We met at Grace’s home the next morning, and drove together to her church on the corner of Chestnut Ave and Brewster Road across the street from Vineland High School.  I don’t remember much about the sermon or message that day, but it was not the sermon that made this day extra-ordinary, but the sequence of events that unfolded next.  As the formal church service ended, the pastors gave the congregation a chance to come have a prayer said for them.  As Grace and I waited for the crowd of people to lessen in size, what I saw before my eyes was yet another first experience.  As a woman was touched by the pastor, she began shaking profusely, and as I turned and look towards the other side of the room, yet another woman had succumbed to violent convulsions that ended with her shaking on the floor.  Before this day, I had only heard of such a religious experience, but on that day, it became real for me.  

When it finally became time, Grace and I walked together to the front of the church and waited in short lines with her being about 50 feet to my left.  As I walked up to the pastor, I can still hear his words ring and echo in my ear as if they were still being uttered.  ‘May G-d give you strength, wisdom, and courage,” were the first words spoken from the lips and tongue of the pastor.  With a dabble of oil on his fingers, he moved his hand toward me forehead and spoke the words, “You have been anointed.” 

As the words were spoken, I felt a tingling sensation emanate throughout my body, leaving with a feeling of awe as I walked away from the dialogue and subsequent blessing.  As Grace and I made our way to the door after chatting with a few members of the congregation, the two women were still lying on the floor convulsing, and it seemed strange to me that no one thought it was odd that these women were on the ground shaking.  I suppose the power of G-d works in strange and mysterious ways and who am I to judge what is real in the mind of another.

I have had many visits from Joshua, a friend now turned guardian angel, but the first vision was on this day.  After church and a subsequent lunch date with Grace I went home.  After entering my home, I walked through the house to the back patio.  I opened the door and stepped out, walking towards the deck.  As I walked along the pavers with my bare feet, I looked up and saw an eagle flying overhead.  As I observed the bird floating along with its wings stretched out, a picture of Joshua with his big smile appeared in my mind, accompanied by his voice as he spoke to me, “Keep Going , I am always watching over you.” 

As my mind rolls back to the time and place of each of my memories of Joshua and his family in the present moment, a dream emerges from within the dream.  A message about the cycles of life and the universe emerge.  Just as we come from the dust, we shall return to the dirt at the end of our physical existence, but our light lives on forever.  Like Joshua’s Tree, we grow from the dirt, living our life to reach for the light only to return to in the end.   As the mind of the boy in the dream dives deeper into the meaning of life, he deduces that just as we come from pure energy to life and mass, we return to pure energy at the end of our life.  

 

On the Brink

 As I reflect back to my college days, I think about a statement I made that turned heads in class.  Some looked in disgust while others were deeply impressed by this simple but bold message.   “There are two soldiers in this world, one who fights because he’s told to, and one who fights because he believes in a cause.”  In such trying times, one succumbs to logical emotion over the nature and status of the world that be.  Why do we fight, why do we feel the need to meddle in others business, is there just cause for action, are there ulterior motives involved, is there an end in sight?  As I sit up on this March night, the room lay silent as I reflect on such things.  

I think back to my conversation with a friend who is three times my senior and our phone conversation on my way home from a day trip yesterday.  The first thing she said to me was, “Sean, I just hope it ends soon.”  You see she has a vested interest in the matter.  She has friends in Iran, for she and her husband lived there in the 1970’s as her husband was an engineer for DuPont.  Although our conversation branched off to many things, I made sure to ask many questions about her unique experience, and listen with the intention to remember.  She and her husband had to flee once the shah was overthrown, but she said it was the greatest experience of her life.  As time progresses to now, we talked about the state of Iran today.  We discussed the Revolutionary Guard, the elite set of soldiers, a group that lives to support the government and carry out their wishes of harm.  She talked about the idea of a nuclear capable Iran.  The uranium enrichment program must be halted to stop Iran from producing a bomb that could and inevitably would be used against the United States and Israel.  She prayed for the lives of the U.S., Israeli, and Iranian people and soldiers who are put in harm's way.  

We talked about Donald Trump.  He’s a strong leader when it comes to war, but he is supposed to be a president of peace.  Is the United States ready for war?  Do we have the munitions to fight a war against a country many times the size of Iraq with nearly 4 times the people?  Although the intellectuals and rich wish to see a regime change, will the Revolutionary Guard allow for a democratically elected leader if and when said regime is overthrown?  Will we be seen as a savior of sorts, or will it just lead to more hatred and animosity towards the United States and Israel?  Is Trump a puppet to Netanyahu, is he a slave to his own personal wealth and that of U.S. oil corporations?  Is it smoke and mirrors?  Did Trump see his own personal image become compromised by the Epstein files and failed political policies that he believed he needed to juxtapose the narrative and shift the popular news media to a war that is not favorable to the masses?

As we move this story forward, one cannot forget the rising power and influence of the People’s Republic of China.  China seeks diplomacy, but what happens when they send troops and war ships to the region on their own accord?  The ratio of Chinamen to American soldiers is 8-to-1.  Fear of the future runs rampant in my mind over such questions.  The people of China are smart, clever individuals, capable of making strategic war efforts on their own. 

The burning question that crosses my mind is this: are we on the brink of World War III?  The world is in such a fragile state, will the powers that be use logic and reason to end conflict or will bombs and blood be fired and shed to bring about change in this world.  What is there to gain from such measures, for there is six degrees of separation between corporate autocracy and the personal interest of Trump?  Will this shift from domestic problems to foreign intervention lead to more turmoil?  We lock men, women, and children in cages for illegally living in the United States and beat, arrest, and in some small cases murder those who protest against it, yet we want to help overthrow a sovereign nation who is doing the same thing to their people.  The hypocrisy is appalling, yet I digress.  The important message I want to leave one with is this: is there a means to an end?  Will it unravel into all out war for we sit on the brink of total war? What will happen if China and Russia get involved?  Are we safe at home?  Although Trump is a democratically elected president, do we continue to let men make decisions that don’t fall in line with the promises he made prior to office?  Where is Congress with a War Powers Resolution?  Why doesn’t anyone in power stand up to this man?  Is this war justified to world peace as a means to an end?  Do we want to control Iranian oil just like we did in Venezuela?