How Science Brings Me Comfort

?A loved one recently experienced some back discomfort, went to get it checked, and a large mass was found in the space just underneath a kidney toward the back.?This has delayed my weekly articles this month, but it also gave me a newfound appreciation (to my already constant appreciation) for science.

In fact, my understanding of science, and my loved one’s understanding of science, is making a stressful situation feel far less stressful, and neither one of us are lab-based scientists.??

(Neither one of us is a biologist, either.)

But we are comforted because we know the basics about what the organs do, how things generally work, and what we should expect in terms of current medicinal science.?It’s less of a mystery—less of a situation where we feel like it’s happening “to us” while we are in a fog, and more of a situation where it’s simply happening and we know a bit about what's going on without having to wait or rely on others.

Everyone should have that level of knowledge of science and the human body—just the basics—to help them in these circumstances.?

Don’t I Need Formal Training, Though?

Not to know the basics, no way.

It’s like when you understand how older cars run: if something happens to the car, you have some comfort in knowing what it is: can I still drive it even with that noise??will it take a few hours to fix or a few days or weeks? is it something I can fix myself??is there something I can do that will at least make it drive-able until I can get it fixed?

It doesn’t mean you’re a car mechanic, but it certainly offers a level of confidence for what needs to happen re: immediate next steps.?Else wise, you are fully dependent on someone else in order to 1) determine the issue, 2) explain what it is, and 3) help you make decisions for how to get it fixed.?

It’s also like when you understand the basics of accounting: you have your debits (what is taken out), your credits (what is put in), and your balance (what you have).?If you spend more than you make, you have a deficit, and that’s not good.?If you make more than you spend, you have a surplus.?In business you have assets and liabilities and a whole host of specifics elsewise, but do you really need to know all of that to know the basics and manage your home accounts?

No.

But knowing those basics enables you to have a level of confidence for what needs to happen re: healthy accounts.

So why don’t we make knowing science the same as the basics of living?

(and keep in mind, I’m only mentioning life sciences, and even the more focused biology or anatomy (the things in our bodies) and physiology (the way those things work in our bodies)… there are many other sciences, too: social sciences, psychology, geology, environmental, physics…).

But to answer the question overall: you do not need formal training in order to understand any science, and it is a myth if anyone tells you differently.?You only need the basics and a working knowledge, and it is far easier to learn that than most people think.

Perhaps that is why the myth of science persists.?For hundreds of years, only those with physical access to a library or books of knowledge (and the time and means to hunt for such knowledge, because back in the day it truly felt like a hunt) were able to connect with science.

They Call Me an Intellectual.?They Say I Understand Science Because I’m Smart.

Well, thank you.?I appreciate the compliment, but labels can be mischievous and misleading.?Life is not as neat and tidy as The Breakfast Club would have us imagine (one of the everlasting cult movies that reinforced the labels and hurt the cause… ?- you’ll find a great link that underscores what a bunch of us Gen X’ers think now vs then… but I digress).

If being infinitely and perpetually curious, and satisfying such a curiosity by learning, means I’m an intellectual, then so be it.?The truth is that if it weren’t for Google, I really would be spending most of my time in a library or in the books of an Encyclopedia collection… and because I’m social and by nature a storyteller, I’d feel frustrated in not being able to quickly look something up and then talk about it to anyone within hearing distance.

Perhaps that is why the myth of science persists.?For hundreds of years, only those with physical access to a library or books of knowledge (and the time and means to hunt for such knowledge, because back in the day it truly felt like a hunt) were able to connect with science.

Otherwise, we had to rely on good teachers and education in general to help us learn the basics.

And the basics are all you need to connect the core aspects of science (and biology, anatomy and physiology especially) in order to find comfort when your loved one is told he or she or they have a mass in their abdomen.

The basics are what demystifies everything in life, especially when it comes to our own lives.

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? 2021 Christa Dhimo

(and as always, let's give credit where credit is due!!):

Works Cited:?See direct links within the article—there were no formal citations this week