WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.770 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.770 --> 00:00:03.690 align:middle line:84% Sometimes I work at a local City College. 00:00:03.690 --> 00:00:04.898 align:middle line:90% I'm an adjunct teacher there. 00:00:04.898 --> 00:00:06.150 align:middle line:90% I teach a comm class. 00:00:06.150 --> 00:00:07.600 align:middle line:90% English 1A kind of thing. 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:09.240 align:middle line:84% And now that the Supreme Court has 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:13.380 align:middle line:84% made it legal for small fire teams of soldiers 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:15.090 align:middle line:90% to come on campus and recruit. 00:00:15.090 --> 00:00:17.460 align:middle line:84% Sometimes what I do when I'm not busy, during lunchtime, 00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:18.990 align:middle line:90% is I'll sort of follow them. 00:00:18.990 --> 00:00:21.660 align:middle line:84% They'll talk with a group and then I'll mirror the group. 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:23.335 align:middle line:84% Kind of go, and just add to their thing. 00:00:23.335 --> 00:00:24.210 align:middle line:90% You know what I mean? 00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:25.500 align:middle line:90% To the conversation. 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:29.173 align:middle line:90% 00:00:29.173 --> 00:00:30.840 align:middle line:84% So sometimes I'll talk about things I'll 00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:33.450 align:middle line:90% say, look, I'm not wounded. 00:00:33.450 --> 00:00:35.965 align:middle line:84% And I don't feel as wounded as a lot of other soldiers 00:00:35.965 --> 00:00:38.340 align:middle line:84% psychically, but I said, but when you sign that contract, 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:39.540 align:middle line:84% you may realize there's things you may 00:00:39.540 --> 00:00:40.740 align:middle line:90% have to carry back with you. 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:44.490 align:middle line:84% Like, when I say I have a woman crying in my ear, late at night 00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:46.020 align:middle line:90% when the stars go down. 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:47.340 align:middle line:90% That's a woman in Balad. 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:48.840 align:middle line:90% We had arrested her husband. 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:49.800 align:middle line:90% He was the right guy. 00:00:49.800 --> 00:00:51.633 align:middle line:84% He's the guy that they sent me there to get. 00:00:51.633 --> 00:00:53.268 align:middle line:84% He had an RPG on him and other stuff. 00:00:53.268 --> 00:00:54.810 align:middle line:84% An RPG is a rocket propelled grenade. 00:00:54.810 --> 00:00:56.310 align:middle line:90% It's like a bazooka, kind of. 00:00:56.310 --> 00:00:58.750 align:middle line:90% It's a military grade weapon. 00:00:58.750 --> 00:01:01.590 align:middle line:84% Andy of you have a military grade weapon in your house? 00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:03.745 align:middle line:84% Most likely, the guy I'm supposed to get. 00:01:03.745 --> 00:01:05.370 align:middle line:84% But anyways, we put him in the vehicle. 00:01:05.370 --> 00:01:08.070 align:middle line:84% And his wife I believe, was crying 00:01:08.070 --> 00:01:10.320 align:middle line:84% and there's an older woman next to them with her shoes 00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:11.612 align:middle line:90% up, with the soles of her feet. 00:01:11.612 --> 00:01:13.990 align:middle line:84% Giving me, one of the biggest insults you can give. 00:01:13.990 --> 00:01:16.590 align:middle line:90% And a little boy walks up to me. 00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:17.283 align:middle line:90% His son. 00:01:17.283 --> 00:01:18.950 align:middle line:84% and he said-- And said in English to me. 00:01:18.950 --> 00:01:21.570 align:middle line:90% He said, my father no bad man. 00:01:21.570 --> 00:01:22.620 align:middle line:90% Let free my father. 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:25.620 align:middle line:90% My father a good man. 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:27.930 align:middle line:84% So I tell that to people listening to the other pitch 00:01:27.930 --> 00:01:29.010 align:middle line:90% too. 00:01:29.010 --> 00:01:33.480 align:middle line:84% Go ahead and join, but realize what you're signing up for. 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:37.210 align:middle line:90% And I'll read one last poem. 00:01:37.210 --> 00:01:39.210 align:middle line:84% It's a short poem, but I would like to say, 00:01:39.210 --> 00:01:41.160 align:middle line:84% there's an amazing culture in Iraq. 00:01:41.160 --> 00:01:42.810 align:middle line:84% Like most country-- all countries. 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:44.743 align:middle line:84% But when I was there, I felt like I could just 00:01:44.743 --> 00:01:46.410 align:middle line:84% barely scratch the surface of stuff that 00:01:46.410 --> 00:01:48.960 align:middle line:84% was there that it was crucial and important to learn. 00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:52.830 align:middle line:84% And this poem is called "Alhazen of Basra" and I should say, 00:01:52.830 --> 00:01:58.020 align:middle line:84% Abu Ali-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, born in 965 died 1040 AD. 00:01:58.020 --> 00:02:00.270 align:middle line:84% Known as Alhazen to the West, was an eminent physicist 00:02:00.270 --> 00:02:02.645 align:middle line:84% whose contribution to science remained vital and relevant 00:02:02.645 --> 00:02:03.530 align:middle line:90% to the present day. 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:04.530 align:middle line:90% Blah, blah, blah, right? 00:02:04.530 --> 00:02:06.260 align:middle line:84% But if you have glasses and stuff, 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:08.663 align:middle line:84% his contributions to optometry, for example, 00:02:08.663 --> 00:02:10.080 align:middle line:84% still relevant to the present day. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.320 align:middle line:84% Used by people in science classes and stuff. 00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:15.300 align:middle line:90% "Alhazen of Basra." 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:20.550 align:middle line:84% If I could travel 1,000 years back to August 1,004, 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:22.620 align:middle line:84% to a small tent where Alhazen who has fallen 00:02:22.620 --> 00:02:26.670 align:middle line:84% asleep among books about sunsets, shadows, and light 00:02:26.670 --> 00:02:29.370 align:middle line:84% itself, I wouldn't ask whether light travels 00:02:29.370 --> 00:02:31.980 align:middle line:84% in a straight line, or whether what governs 00:02:31.980 --> 00:02:35.490 align:middle line:84% the laws of refraction, or how he discovered the bridgework 00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:37.680 align:middle line:90% of analytical geometry. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:40.380 align:middle line:84% I would ask about the light within us. 00:02:40.380 --> 00:02:44.580 align:middle line:84% What shines in the mind's great repository of dream, 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:48.900 align:middle line:84% whether he studied the deep shadows daylight brings, 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:52.350 align:middle line:90% how light defines us. 00:02:52.350 --> 00:02:55.740 align:middle line:84% Thank you, all for having me here and for doing this for me. 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:56.355 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:02:56.355 --> 00:02:58.980 align:middle line:84% It's been an honor to share the stage with these two gentlemen. 00:02:58.980 --> 00:03:00.500 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:01.000 align:middle line:90%