I went to a talk about particle physics at the library. I only understood a fraction of what was said; it was like listening to an entirely different language. After a good effort of trying to keep up, I sat back and spent the rest of the talk just appreciating that there seemed to be a good number of people in the room who did understand what she was talking about. Hooray for humanity! We are so interesting and interested in so many different things! We are so collectively capable!
I go to these kinds of talks often enough, and that's usually how it goes. I remember writing poetry about quarks and covalent bonds through my undergrad Physics classes. I remember listening in awe to Dan Miles talk about the Higgs boson discovery thirteen years ago. I knew nothing about it then and understand just slightly more now, but I remember really being in awe of his wonder. Wonder adjacent, I suppose.
More of a science gal in fancy than in fact, but still I go. The part that always lights me up is usually toward the end, when they talk about all that we still don't understand. Dark matter! Dark energy! Time! Gravity! 5%! All that we know and all the vast and mysterious unknown! A shiver down my spine. A smile on my face. Syllables of a larger language, strange and beautiful and ringing in my ears.