A Rooster Crowed in Physics

Something pretty cool happened in  my physics class last week.

"Write your name down on a piece of paper," Professor M. instructed. The class grumbled. "Don't worry, I'm not making you take a quiz." He slyly smiled. "I want you to answer this: Where do you get your freedom from?"

From where do I get my freedom? I thought this was physics class, not history. Some students quickly scratched down an answer, while others sat thinking.

Well, God gives us our free-will...but I'm pretty sure that's not what he's looking for. Okay mind, pull up those files from government class...I know this is in some founding document. Let's just go with the Bill of Rights since the Amendments gives us all those rights. That should cover it. I should still mention free-will though, because we still have the freedom to break laws and ignore the rights of others.

"We have natural freedom because of free-will. Much of our freedom and rights were established in the Bill of Rights."

Yeah, I'll agree that it was a pretty lousy response. But my brain was on frictional forces, not founding fathers.

He collected and silently reviewed our responses while we went back to physics problems. At the end of class he said, "Just as I suspected--a typical class. Many of you said that the soldiers give us our freedom, or the government. The government can't give you any freedom--if anything they take it away! So where do we get our freedom from?" he asked again.

"As written in the Declaration of Independence: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'" He recited with eloquence.

Then my physics professor said, "You get your freedom from GOD."

The room was silent.

The student to my left shifted in his chair and began to rapidly tap his finger on his notebook before challenging, "What if you don't believe in God?"

Professor smiled, "He gives you that freedom to not believe in Him."

The agitated student then pointedly asked, "Which god?"

To which my professor firmly replied, "THE God."

All the while I sat in my chair beaming with admiration. His answer was so unexpected and refreshing, especially in today's society where God is pushed out of the public place, particularly from schools.

We no longer recite our Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of this nation united as one under God. "In God We Trust" is no longer on the face of the dollar coin, but on the edge. This clearly makes the statement that soon He will be pushed right off the edge. There are countless stories of students being reprimanded for even saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes, or for praying before their lunch. Coaches are getting suspended for encouraging prayer before games...the list goes on and on.

I see it in myself. As I walked down the hall after class, I reflected on my answer. Why did I not write down my original thought? Evidently, I too have fallen for the "God doesn't belong in school" mantra. This upsets me. What was I afraid of? Government? The school? A scoff? ...I was fearing these things above God.

56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” 58 A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”

That's right. I, the one who refers to herself as the "transformed rebel," is more like a "conformed coward." It's not even like I live in the Middle East where I, like Peter, could be facing death for acknowledging Him. Here I have the First Amendment right to freely speak and practice my religion; a right that I should be exercising regardless if it is given by the government or not. An unalienable right that I should be exercising because it is a freedom given to me by God.

Source

The Scars of the City

September 11, 2001. A day we shall never forget.

Thirteen years... Today is the annual day on which I cannot write the date at the top of a page without pausing, reflecting, and feeling so...so many things. For a moment, everything around me is silent, and I feel numb. As I stare at the date, a plane crashes into the the two penciled ones. Eleven falls. Black smoke rises. My heart twists, and I feel angry, sad, and still in shock. I was five years old when it happened. But I remember it so clearly. I just cannot even fathom what this day induces in the hearts of all those who were there- those who witnessed and who lost.

I visited New York City with my family three years ago, in 2011, ten years after the horrific event. As we stood near the not-yet-completed One World Trade Center building, our tour guide informed us different facts regarding the tower. He mentioned things such as that it would stand 1,776 feet tall (note the significance of that number. Hint: it's a year ;) making it taller than The Empire State Building, and the new tallest building in NYC. Then someone asked, "Where were you...when it happened?"

A graveness passed over his face and immobilized him. He no longer spoke in his tour guide voice, but with one that was very distant. "I was in my apartment on the twentieth floor...watching. I saw it all."

He then cleared his throat and pointed out different places of damage. There was a large cross-walk structure above us. On its side was a large scrape. The tour guide explained that what was destroyed was replaced, but those certain damaged sections were still able to serve their structural purpose, so they were left as they were, defiled.

He told us how the 18th century chapel, St. Paul's, just across Dey street from the World Trade Center, though blanketed in debris and soot, somehow still stood, untouched.

Then he pointed to a large, round chunk of metal, that looked like it was dug up from a junk yard. However, once he explained what it was, it became so beautiful and moving. The battered bronze orb had been the sculpture at the very center of the World Trade Center. It was salvaged from the rubble.

The Sphere by Fritz Koenig. My photograph taken 10 years after 9/11.

Before 9/11, The Sphere, by Fritz Koenig. Photo credit: Mark Lentz

The artist, Fritz Koenig, designed and created the sculpture as a "monument to world peace through trade." If only he had any idea, as he formed his piece of art, how much it would fulfill that meaning; and how it would become a memorial and symbol for so much more.

Of course, not only was Koenig's Sphere bashed and scarred by the events of 9/11, but God's Sphere as well. We too, as a nation, have been rescued from beneath the collapsed towers and debris. We too, have a gouge in our heart. We too, still stand- indivisible and scarred.

Image source: HuffingtonPost

Photograph of The Sphere after 9/11 is my own. Photograph of The Sphere before 9/11 is by Mark Lentz. Source: http://www.pakistanartreview.net/Rashid_Arshad.html
For more of the story of The Sphere: http://www.percyadlon.com/film_and_stage/koenigssphere_1.html
Regarding St. Paul's Chapel, I referenced this map, and this National Geographic article.
Information on One World Trade Center: http://onewtc.com/press-center/press-releases/one-world-trade-center-surpasses-empire-state-building-reclaiming-honor-as-new-york-citys-tallest-skyscraper

Here is my Never Forget story and remembrance of that frightful day. (click link)

NEVER FORGET

[This was supposed to be posted on Tuesday, but I was having internet problems.]
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Where we were on that day eleven years ago, is something we shall NEVER FORGET.

I was standing below the phone, facing the wall, which bore the poster of the Pledge of Allegiance. I tried to say the words as my brother did- though I was a syllable behind- and I concentrated on the letters of that page, trying to match the words I heard with the symbols I saw, all while wondering why we were "invisible" under God.

*BRRRIIIING* The phone rang.

"Hello?" Mom answered.
-silence-

I can't recall her vocal response, but I do remember her face. It was stiff. Her hands trembled as she held the phone. My brother and I stood looking up at her, anticipating what the other half of the conversation could possibly be.

She eventually hung up the phone and turned to look down at us.
"Two airplanes crashed into the Twin Towers intentionally."
She shook.
I didn't quite understand. But what I did understand was that my mom and dad were frightened. My protectors-who weren't even afraid of monsters or robbers-were afraid now. They were afraid of this.
I may not have known exactly why- but I knew that I was scared too.