I'm tired. It was a long day. I wasn't really ready for school to start. But then I got into the classroom and showed pretty pictures and tried to convince students that physics is fun. I started to feel a little better. Then, in astronomy lab tonight, an older student told me why he decided to take an astronomy course. He is in the military and was in Afghanistan in early 2002. As part of a mission, he and a fellow soldier were assigned to do sniper duty before the rest of the troops followed to secure the base. They were dropped out of an airplane late at night. They crouched until their eyes recovered from the plane and adjusted to the Afghani night at this isolated place at an altitude of about 7000 ft. Then, he said, both of them raised their eyes to the sky. No pollution, no lights within range of their vision - just a mind-boggling vista of stars. He said that they probably stood transfixed by the view for about 10 minutes. He was amazed that they had been sent there, prepared to kill people, while we were all so small and insignificant. Then he vowed he'd learn about all that he saw in that untouched night sky.

Yes. Now I remember why I teach.