Quote of the Week...from Stephen Hawking

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.                   ---Stephen Hawking

If there were ever someone who might have felt justified at simply curling up onto himself and turning his back on the world around him, it just might be Stephen Hawking who, while an up-and-coming young physicist in 1963, was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease...a crippling affliction that is usually fatal within years.  Hawking, though, has endured with it over the decades...although he must depend not only on others and technology for his mobility and life support, but even to able to speak his thoughts.  Yet with all of this adversity he has only intensified his curiosity and wonder at the universe and our place within it.  I definitely credit the loving devotion of others around him and our advances in digital and medical technology with Hawking's longevity...not to mention that his ALS was slower in its process, but I also think that by maintaining his attentions outward and deliberately nurturing his curiosity, he has become in some ways a stronger person than many of us who have been blessed with relatively good health.  For myself, I have always had a natural curiosity at what is going on around me, and this has built up within me a reservoir of knowledge and understanding about many areas...although there are quite a few about which I'm admittedly ignorant.  The downside to this catering to curiosity is that I haven't been able to put other things out of my mind in such a deliberate, concentrated, prolonged, and disciplined way as to achieve a deeply specialized skill in an area that would have been more socially prestigious and financially rewarding...but Stephen Hawking, with all of his physical problems, managed this feat as well while still maintaining his "look up".  What an inspiration to all of us!