Joseph Kovach was 15 when he was sent to a Soviet gulag. He described his time of imprisonment this way: “When I look at the months, the years, they were empty. There’s nothing in terms of thinking, of planning, of remembering the past or planning for the future. It felt almost as though I was hibernating.”

Kovach was moved to a camp with a small library. Then his mind explored the possibilities of ideas...concepts...creativity. When released, he attended the University of Chicago.

In a PBS interview Kovach concluded, “Ultimately, it is our mental apparatus, our capacity to think, our capacity to deal with ideas, our capacity to find unities, coherences in variations—that’s what makes us human. We have a way of creating worlds for ourselves, in our heads, and sharing those worlds.”

Think about it. Mathematics, music, science, engineering—these are all distinctly human endeavors. We are unique because we are created in the image of God. Understanding your origins shapes your future.