Gravity

Gravity.

Sir Isaac Newton was the first person to give it serious consideration. He came up with a rule or law of universal gravitation which the following definition is noted as follows:

Each particle of matter attracts every other particle with a force which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Excuse me, what did that say?

In a nutshell, it means that here on earth, when you drop something, it falls to the ground unless there is some other force preventing it from happening.

We have all experienced Newton's Law on a personal level. I would like to give a few examples of what has occurred to me and my family as a result of Newton's Law.

When I was five, I was a tree-climbing fool until one day when all the kids in the neighborhood, including myself, were being called to come home. After all, it was almost dark. Here I was, about eight feet up in a tree, trying to figure the easiest and fastest way to get down. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I chose to use "Newton's Law" to remove myself from the tree. As a result of it, I bit my tongue on impact, causing extreme pain and a whole lot of bleeding.

I didn't eat dinner that night.

Newton's Law has caused me some injury time and again on the playground at school when my hands mismaneuvered themselves on the monkey bars too.

Newton's Law helped me fall off a ladder one day when I was a teen while working in an apple orchard, thinning apples. A grasshopper had somehow found his way under my shirt and proceeded to spit repeatedly while trying to find a way out. It startled me so much that I practically ripped the shirt off in an attempt to be rid of him and fell off the ladder in the process.

I learned how to ski as a young adult and spent many hours experiencing Newton's Law in downhill skiing. In fact, if it wasn't for Newton's Law, downhill skiing really wouldn't be much fun at all.

Then there was karate. I can't tell you how many times I've ended up on the floor during karate because of Newton's Law. I don't take karate anymore.

There were times when I had the stomach flu that I had wished Newton's Law was a bit stronger as I made mad dashes for the toilet. I'm sure that there were some drunks who may have felt the same.

My kids have experienced Newton's Law in personal ways quite unique to them as well.

My oldest son decided to take his bike on a downhill run behind our house one day. The road ended, but he kept going. We had to pick dirt and rocks out of his back for days afterward.

My daughter had a lovely personal experience with Newton's Law in an unusual format. At the adorable age of three, she was running in our yard one day while geese flew overhead. One of those geese decided he needed to rid himself of some goosemade by-product in mid-air. It landed smack on my daughter's head and proceeded to ooze down her face while she let out a blood-curdling scream. To this day, she is not fond of geese.

Last but not least, my youngest son had an early experience with Newton's Law, when he chose to perform a mountain-climbing act on the back or our recliner at the ripe age of fourteen months. He fell over the back of the chair before I could stop him, breaking his arm in the process. He had the most fun with his little, tiny arm cast afterward, banging it incessantly on everything he could possibly find. It was especially useful at mealtimes on his high-chair. He must've loved the resonance of that sound echoing through the house.

Now, you know what Newton's Law can do. It is a powerful energy, causing memorable occasions for all humankind.

Actually, I chose to speak of Newton's Law just to tell you all about those other silly little but memorable episodes in my family's life.

Thanks, Sir Isaac.