5.30.2007

An Open Letter to the Scientists

Dear Scientists of the world,

Please show us that the reason you came to be a scientist is because you wondered about something you didn't know, and that wonder consumed you and drove you.

When someone writes a newspaper article about a new discovery you made, please tell us how many wrong turns your investigation took, how many times you asked the wrong question or missed something. Tell us about how much you kept wondering through the whole thing.

Because when my students see an unbroken string of stories about how we've just proved something, they learn that it's the results that matter, and not the wonder. That curiosity is only good when it's leading to proof. That things we can't see, and don't understand, don't matter until we can, and do.

I love what you're doing for the world, making medicine and cool gadgets and the Showtime Rotisserie. And I know we-- scientists and ministers-- can play nice together, since all the things you're discovering are things God made work that way. So let's make each other's jobs a little easier, and give the world back the gift of wonder, of process, of saying "I don't know."

Thanks,

Isaac

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

here, here!
one of the biggest disappointments of mine in ministry is students (and adults) who do not wonder, who simply want to run from task a to task b without thinking in between. Where has our ability to wonder for hte sake of wondering gone?

Esther said...

That's a great point. People always worry and feel bad about themselves when they are asking questions and failing to understand. That's a time to be happy because at least they have the capacity to ask the question. Thanks for this post.