Idea: O is a number, Nothing is a quantity
Reflection 1: The word 'nothing' has the ability to punch me in the stomach for a couple of reasons. The main one I believe is that I have seen what 'Nothing' looks like. I have heard what 'Nothing' sounds like and I have felt the atmosphere of 'Nothing' when I visited New Orleans's Lower 9th Ward in February, 2009. It's incredibly heart breaking visiting a city that has so much excitement, musicality and familiarity but once you remove the band aid for a short time, you see its truth and the truth of a country with whom turned its back on such a brilliant place. This place is still hurting, at some points on my visit were numbing and I felt waves of shame. The 'Nothing' I speak of is abandoned homes that once held a family. Their Christmas dinners, graduations, and birthdays are without a place to celebrate. Empty schools, restaurants and streets litter the city. Nothing is an amount, which can be mistaken as a number, but O is a number, therefore it cannot be an amount. Is this true? I know that O is represented on a ruler, therefore it exists, I also can get a ticket for not having my seat belt on when my car is idling. O is a speed. It's a number. 'Nothing' is deeper. 'Nothing' effects people, changes people, moves people to find more than 'Nothing'. One thing I must say is that New Orleans is being rebuilt, and the people who had experienced Hurricane Katrina and decided to have faith in their home have celebrated its roots and strength through adversity. For people who once had nothing, they sure have created much more from their situation, and perhaps as I think about it now, were never without. Their memories were always intact. They still had music in their hearts. Just because you see 'Nothing' doesn't mean 'Something' isn't there. 'Something" is a quantity too isn't it?
Reflection 2: Math helps us understand our World. The World helps me understand math.
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