Glory of Science

            Science is a subject in which only the most strong-willed and persistent-minded people excel. Science takes immense patience and event in the times where researchers feel as though there is nothing they can do, no farther they can take a study, the must remain positive and fight through adversity to yield their desired results. The people who spend their lives studying and researching are the ones that make life easier for the rest of the population. John M. Barry discusses in The Great Influenza the great lengths that scientists must endure continuously. Despite always being uncertain in their hypotheses, scientists go where no other men go to get the results that they so eagerly yearn for.

            “Science teaches us to doubt” (Barry). Even though researchers may think that they have figured out they need to be successful, they must always remain uncertain in that there is always a chance that they can be wrong. They must know that even steps into the right direction may not always be enough. This uncertainty is exposed when, “A scientist must accept the fact that all his or her work, even beliefs, may break upon the sharp edge of a single laboratory finding” (Barry). It does not matter if someone has all of the research that could possibly be gathered, they have to be able to make it work; and if they cannot, then it was worth nothing in the long run. Perhaps some doors may have been opened in the process, but the desired ending is absent.

            In order for normal, everyday people to live the lives that they do, scientists since before history having been making it possible. They are the ones who give us the knowledge and confidence to do the things we do. They are the show us what is good and what is bad; what is wrong and what is right. They struggle continuously and even though the path gets bumpy, the destination is always at their finger tips. These men and women journey far and long and, “In the wilderness scientists must create…everything” (Barry). Barry shows us the rough and rugged side of science. Where scientists must literally start from scratch, and not only think of everything that they need, but how they are going to make it work in such a way where the results prove to be successful.  He shows us that the scientists wander unknown territory on a daily basis; places people never even thought of going. They pave the roads, we just walk on them.

            As long as science is around, truth will be around. These two go hand-in-hand in the path to discovering life on earth. People really do not realize the sacrifices made and the time spent, just to make everything a little bit easier for us. Barry shows us that even though uncertainty must always be on one’s mind, the unknown lands traveled by these men and women give way to information one could never have thought of obtaining. Scientists play such an important role in our society, without them we would literally be lost.