No juxtaposition, just inspiration.

I just finished watching a two hour program about Stephen Hawking's search for the Theory of Everything. And to think I get a little worked up occasionally about having a few assignments due on the same day (shame on me)

I was first introduced to Stephen Hawking and his theory of the origin of the universe in a documentary called, A Brief History of Time based on the book of the same name. The book gives an overview on subjects of cosmology such as the Big Bang, black holes, and his views on the basic laws which govern the universe. With a colleague named Roger Penrose, they implied that Einstein's Theory of Relativity would have a beginning in the Big Bang an an end in black holes. It was this idea that gave birth to the necessity to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory. They conjectured that black holes would not be entirely black but emit radiation, evaporate, and disappear. The universe would no longer have an edge or boundary in imagined time, implying that when the universe began it was completely determined by scientific law. This video created by the American Museum of Natural History gives the viewer a snapshot of the area of exploration they are working with up to this point.

If I understand a mere thimbleful of what Stephen Hawking is trying to discover, I can consider myself smart. I admit to not fully comprehending what he says, but I know he does it with a passion and an ultimate sense of purpose to unravel the awe of the origins of the universe. Crippled by Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), Hawking has outlived early predictions that he would die 40 years ago. Once Hawking discovered at the age of 21 what would happen to his body over time, his dreams became disturbed and he dreamt he was to be executed. Hawking realized he had little time for a life of purpose so he focused his energies on research and science, determined to leave a legacy behind for future generations to build upon. Hawking married and took a position shortly after as a theoretical physicist and had three children. Hawking has been a professor at Cambridge university for decades, written countless papers, lectured extensively on black holes and theoretical cosmology. Much of his life has been spent in a wheelchair and he still works to discover a unified theory.

There are days when I feel the strain of the requirements of schoolwork. Not only to complete it, but to the best of my ability as well. A certain amount of anxiety comes with this as it would for anyone. When I watch a program like the one I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am inspired and reminded that no matter how much adversity I feel I am being subjected to, it is nothing compared to the experience of others. I could even say it's relative.