Latina Leadership Lessons: Magic of Science

I don’t know about you, but I see magic everywhere! One definition of magic is, “Of, relating to, or invoking the supernatural.” Another is, “Possessing distinctive qualities that produce unaccountable or baffling effects.” When something is “super” natural, it means it seems more than natural, right? Well, what’s natural? When something is beyond the explainable *to me* is seems like magic. I wake up in the morning (no, that’s not the magic part!), and if I turn on the light or the music, I have no idea how the particular mechanisms works to bring light or music into the room. Sure, I understand the basics, but truly, who can explain electricity, light and sound? Not how it works but WHY? Now, I know some of you are engineers and can probably explain those simple phenomena to me. However, as things get more complex, the magic seems even more amazing. What about how computers work to send an email to a friend, or that we can store hundreds of songs in a device that’s smaller than a wallet? Or that you can take blood out of my body, or hook me up to a machine and tell me all sorts of things about what’s going on inside me. Even driving my car is amazing. I could go on and on with what science has brought to our world in terms of health, and gadgets, and household and work. And just a short time ago, all these things would have been “magic.” They would have been “super-natural” and yet as we learn and grow, more and more things that seemed like “magic” become part of the everyday. For those of you who lived B.i. (Before iPod), do you remember cassette tapes, or even (gasp!) 8 track tapes? Science evolves what is possible so quickly and what we don’t think is possible TODAY we may have far surpassed in a few years. And we take advantage of so many of them without truly understanding how they work, or why, but simply trusting and having faith that they WILL work, and that they’ll do what we want them to. As Latinas, we women tend to be more open to the fluidity of the supernatural and how it affects our everyday lives. Many of you might read and learn about your astrological sign, say prayers to your ancestors, or light a candle when someone is sick. And how many of us say prayers believing that it will help those we pray about (and science has shown us it does!). So, we’re open to magic in our lives of faith, but how about the little “magics” everywhere? So today, look around. Enjoy the magic of the everyday. Be grateful for what science has brought to your life thus far and trust there will be much more to come! Aurelia Flores wants to offer a learning opportunity to other women who might find themselves in similar shoes. She strongly believes women can learn from other women, no matter where they are in their career or life path.