I have an unfortunate tendency to ask uncomfortable questions, and I have an even more unfortunate tendency to not rest until I seek out the answer to that question. A case in point is my relentless obsession with trying to figure out why people are interested in things. One of the things I could not wrap my head around when I was younger was how people saw beauty in mathematics. I saw mathematics as a tool, or a little bit of work you had to do in order to make things happen or to get to a certain point. But there were--and are--many people who do not share that viewpoint, and quite a few of them don't because they think mathematics is beautiful. In my quest to understand why, I became one of them.

And that has been one of the most amazing things that have ever happened to me. In order to be accepted socially, I often joined in with groups of students telling tales of how mathematics made them cry. It's worth mentioning that mathematics actually never made me cry until I began to love it and was overwhelmed by how pervasive and effortlessly amazing it is.

I think math is beautiful because it makes the seemingly impossible possible! You are faced with insane problems that, when written down, are longer than you are tall, and you think you will never be able to get past because it is not possible to solve it, then you do a slightly unreasonable amount of work, and then it works and you’ve reached your solution! And yes, one could complain about the slightly unreasonable amount of work, but the fact of the matter is, you have created a miracle. You have made what seemed impossible possible, and all you have done is math. That's what everyone wants to do, everyone wants to make the impossible possible! Well, okay, not everyone, and actually, that's probably a good thing, because it's fortunate that some things are impossible.

But anyway, if that doesn't completely destroy your current, terrible perception of mathematics and make you feel astounded, you might not have a soul. If mathematics does not amaze you, you might not have a soul. So, based on the results you get when you ask students what they think of math, we are raising an army of soulless, heartless zombies. It is safe to say that is not a step in the right direction. Don’t be a zombie--do some math, and think about what that means.