I was born without a left hand in June 1954 — almost 60 years ago. I often say: "Life is hard, and then you die." My saying that bothers a lot of people. Evidently, either they disagree or they want to disagree, or perhaps they want to avoid the truth of my comment in some way, to pretend or to imagine or to hope that life can be cheerful, even joyful — something so wonderful that it could rightly be called easy and fun.
Maybe having two hands throughout a lifetime makes someone describe life as something that is easy and fun, but that advantage has never been part of my experience; I have only known the disadvantage of having to do everything with just one hand, which means having to find peace in admitting that I cannot do some things that people with two hands can do very easily. Believe me: finding such peace as that is something that is only ever done in part and then very slowly over years and years of time. Maybe I will find total peace when I am 90 years old, but I have not found it yet; life is still hard often enough that I cannot forget it.
And so I am especially proud of one thing above all other things in my proposed "Public Education" amendment (see post #176327), and that one thing is found in the details of "Section. 1." and "Section. 5."
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Section. 1.
The Congress shall fund, oversee the administration of, and nominate students to the six tuition-free United States military academies located at: West Point, New York, for the Army; Annapolis, Maryland, for the Navy and the Marine Corps; Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the Air Force; New London, Connecticut, for the Coast Guard; Kings Point, New York, for the Merchant Marine; and Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska, for the Cyber/Biologic Defense.
Section. 5.
The United States Cyber/Biologic Defense Academy shall have no physical fitness requirements whatsoever. It shall at all times maintain a Stephen Hawking Rule which declares that the mind alone shall determine eligibility and no physical defect of any sort shall be disqualifying. The Cyber/Biologic Defense shall be disciplined and uniformed, but shall not undergo any traditional basic training that includes strenuous whole-body strength-related activities of any sort, including marching. A brilliant wheelchair-bound person is eligible to enroll in the United States Cyber/Biologic Defense Academy and to serve in the Cyber/Biologic Defense at any rank of command, including Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The term “cyber/biologic” refers to all things related either to transmissions of any sort in cyberspace known and unknown, including any hostile activity on the Internet, any manifestation of computer hacking, and any potentially harmful computer data manipulation, or to hostile biological actions that could be property-damaging, disease-causing, and/or life-threatening in any way, or to both simultaneously in any evil pairing. The term “defense” must naturally have an offensive component to be whole.
The United States Cyber/Biologic Defense Academy shall have access to all national public high school student transcripts and shall be welcome to freely recruit national public high school students.
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There it is in "Section. 5." and it bears repeating:
"The United States Cyber/Biologic Defense Academy shall have no physical fitness requirements whatsoever. It shall at all times maintain a Stephen Hawking Rule which declares that the mind alone shall determine eligibility and no physical defect of any sort shall be disqualifying. The Cyber/Biologic Defense shall be disciplined and uniformed, but shall not undergo any traditional basic training that includes strenuous whole-body strength-related activities of any sort, including marching. A brilliant wheelchair-bound person is eligible to enroll in the United States Cyber/Biologic Defense Academy and to serve in the Cyber/Biologic Defense at any rank of command, including Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
Yes. Yes! YES! I am proud of that idea — very proud! Make that: VERY PROUD! I hope it happens, and I hope in its happening that it gives some very worthy young people their lives — the lives that they deserve to have and to enjoy.
The U.S. military needs strong bodies AND great minds, and some great minds are living in bodies that are deformed, paralyzed, and/or diseased in some way. Even so, the great minds are intact and keen and strong, and some are mighty. What I have proposed is not unreasonable. In fact, my proposal is prudent and wise in every respect.
Worth reading:
http://www.stemd.org/http://www.the-scientist.com/?artic...Societal-As-Well-As-Physical-Challenges/http://www.xojane.com/issues/disabled-people-in-science-technology-math-engineering-fieldshttp://sciencecareers.sciencemag.or...ues/articles/2013_07_10/caredit.a1300141http://allthetropes.orain.org/wiki/Genius_Cripple#Real_LifeSteven A. Sylwester
