Are we taking full advantage of the opportunities that we have?

While reading Petrarch’s letters to Cicero, I found it interesting how Petrarch presents an update to Cicero, who is already dead. Petrarch reports on the current condition of Cicero’s writings. He reports on the influence of Cicero’s writings and efforts. Petrarch tells him that the current generations didn’t appreciate Cicero’s work and how his efforts may be lost to future generations.

I began to reflect on how many of these types of letters could be written to various people who have made significant contributions to how we live today. Hopefully, we are taking full advantage of all of the work that so many before us did, so that those letters could be quite positive.

Hippocrates,
the "Father of Medicine"

Being an Exercise and Wellness Major at BYU and planning to pursue a Master’s degree in Public Health, one individual that I think it would be interesting to write to would be Hippocrates who is known as the “Father of Medicine.” Hippocrates had an understanding of the human body, how it works, and how it should be treated when one becomes ill, that far exceeded other physicians of his time. (For more information on Hippocrates, you can visit this site: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/hippoc.html). I think that a letter to Hippocrates would be quite optimistic, because of the many new medical discoveries and techniques that are continually being developed.  However, I also wonder if we are doing the most with the opportunities we have. Hippocrates made such monumental headway in a time where it was very hard to do so. Now with the technology and resources that we have, should we be discovering more than we are?