Project Awesome

[Twin-Skies]

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swif...-hero.html

A homily to Norman Borlaug, the geneticist who developed Golden Rice and, back in the 1960s to 70s, developed wheat strains that did much to alleviate world hunger.

It's a long post, so I'll just quote the part that struck me the most:

Normal Borlaug accomplished amazing things, but he couldn't have done so without a great many factors combining to make that result possible. He needed to be born at the right time, in the right environment. He needed to have support and funding and smart, dedicated people helping him. In short, and this takes nothing away from him, Norman Borlaug was fortunate. We have no control over fortune, of course, but we do have the ability to do the same thing Norman did.

We can try.

And that is what makes Normal Borlaug a hero. He CHOSE to try to improve the world. The "tweep" I mentioned earlier has also chosen this path, and in this regard, he and Norman are the same.

I know he'd bristle at the idea of being compared to Norman, but he'll just have to live with that because the comparison is apt.

So yes, by all means, let's hold up Norman Borlaug as a hero. Let's name airports after him, pave roads in his honor, and let his countenance keep watch over the $20 bill (I never liked Jackson much). Norman Borlaug WAS a hero.

But you can be too. All you have to do is try.