I want a physicist to speak at my funeral. I want the physicist to talk to my grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that my energy has not died. I want the physicist to remind my sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. I want my mother to know that all my energy, every vibration, every BTU of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. I want the physicist to tell my weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, i gave as good as i got. And at one point Id hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to my brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell her that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by him. And as my widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from me were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever. And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through me in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives. And Ill want the physicist to explain to those who loved me that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. I can hope my family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that theyll be comforted to know my energys still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of me will be gone; i just become less orderly.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 03:10:27 +0000
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