Inauguration

Last month, President-elect Barack Obama named four scientists to lead his science and technology team. I listened to his December 20, 2008 radio address. I heard words I waited all my life to hear.

When I was a small child, when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I told them, "A scientist!" I always knew.

I wanted to know how things worked and didn't work, and most importantly, why? Three men fall in freezing water. One dies. One is fine and warm and swims to safety. The third, shivering and miserable. Why? How? As a military scientist, my work was to find why standard operations and techniques didn't work. How to change them to make them effective, safe, sleek, powerful, good, and replace the wrong. Thankless work, what a surprise. I found why specific widespread medical practices weren't working, and what worked better. People using the changes began being able to do things previously hampered by injury and poor training methods.

When medicine and science aren't healthy, we find healthy ways, and do them instead. That is the best meaning of the word "health care," because it is finally healthy, and because we care how it affects people's lives. It is not health care if it is not healthy.

It is not a crusade, just doing what is simple and right, something anyone can know and do - not to sell products, hype, surgeries that you don't need, medicines or exercises that fix one thing and hurt six others, for profits and glory. Support what is true, not what you wish is true, or to repeat what "everyone" says, blind dogma, right or not.

At his December radio address, President-elect Obama said,

“The truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us."

We are currently in Thailand. From abroad, we will be watching the inauguration. We are looking forward to returning to a healthier country.

Thank you President Obama.


See the text and video:
http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/the_search_for_knowledge_truth_and_a_greater_understanding_of_the_world_aro/

Labels: education, holiday

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