My Response

After watching the documentary ” The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz”, I was left feeling as though my own life was aimless. Hearing about how this young computer genius fought for access to online ( educational) documents that should be available for all and real political change in our country moved me in ways I didn’t expect.

An idea that stuck with me was touched on near the end of the documentary ( around 1:40:55) where Cory Doctorow a journalist and friend of Aaron discussed a teen who used some of the documents/journals that Aaron released out to the public to come up with a testing method for pancreatic cancer in its early stages. Doctorow said, ” … without access the person who might come up with the thing that’s got your number on it may never find that answer.” Swartz’s efforts allowed for this young teen to use these journals that would have otherwise been locked behind paywalls, being of use to only a few individuals.

Aaron’s story left me more motivated than anything. Motivated to make something of myself and work hard towards whatever goals I may pursue in the future, just like he did when all the odds were stacked against him.