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Truth and beauty

I had been on that bus for 8 hours already, and a couple of hours after Albuquerque the gentleman sitting beside me asked me where I was from and what brought me to America. Once the conversation continued past the pleasantries, I quickly learnt that he was on his way back home to southern Texas after burying his father who had just died of cancer. 

I expressed my condolences. 

"Obama killed him you know" he suddenly said. I was genuinely surprised, "What ?"

"Obamacare. Death panels of doctors that decide who gets treated and who does not." Bitterness crept into his voice. "They treated him like trash."

Obamacare had just been passed, it was the summer of 2010, and most likely, nothing had actually changed in the hospital systems of middle america. Still, I was not going to argue with a man who had just buried his father. 

There was silence between us for a while. 

"What do you do down in Texas ?"

"I teach math at high school." Joy danced fleetingly across his face as he said that, and then more bitterness. "No one cares about math anymore. No one cares about anything. You know why that is ?"

"umm... why ?"

"Moral relativism."

For the second time, all I could muster was "What ?". 

"Moral Relativism" he repeated. "There is your truth, and there is my truth. Your feelings and my feelings. No one is wrong. Everyone gets a gold star. No one prays, or cares." 

I was beginning to comprehend. 

"Math is not like that. There is One right answer. And you have to work hard to get it. Math is beautiful. But you have to work hard to see it. Do you see ?"

I nodded. 

"If there is no absolute truth, why should the kids work hard to seek it ? The only kids who put in the work are Indians and Asians. And they are the only ones who are sincere at prayer. And they are not even Christian !"

I nodded. 

"You said you study physics, right ?"

"Yes."

"And is it beautiful ?"

"More than I can express or comprehend. Far more."

"Good" he said, settled into his seat, and fell asleep.

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