A few years ago I read an interesting book about time travel by Michael Crichton.

Crichton is best known for his book "Jurassic Park," which director Steven Spielberg turned into a couple of thrilling movies about dinosaurs.

I found the author's book "Timeline" far more interesting because it deals with a fictional idea called "quantum foam wormholes" in time and space which would allow you to experience life in another time.

The majority of the book is set in France in 1357.

A group of college students on an archaeology dig in France fax themselves back in time in an attempt to rescue their professor. It seems the professor has been accidentally transported through a wormhole to a time of war with mad lords and peasant bandits in medieval times.

The college students have close encounters from catapults, in castles, and dungeon pits while attempting to figure out how to get back to the modern world.

It's an interesting idea for a book and translated much better in the film version of "Timeline."

I would like to go back in time myself.

If I could experience history, I would love to have been with Francis Scott Key when he witnessed the bombs bursting in air aboard the British ship while he wrote the words to our national anthem "Star Spangled Banner."

I was reminded about Key's story when American Revolutionary War re-enactors did a black powder firing demonstration of a cannon at the Cowpens National Battlefield museum. While it's actually a replica, the cannon used on the Cowpens park grounds functioned quite well in showing visitors what it sounds like when a cannon is fired.

The process if slow and the results are LOUD!!!

None of my pictures turned out from the cannon firing because I jumped several feet in the air when the cannon went off.

The Cowpens and Kings Mountain battlefield sites are two national treasures sitting right in our backyard in Cherokee County.

How many other places in this country can you go and find two American Revolutionary War battle locations in one county? You can't.

Military re-enactor groups bring the history of the American Revolutionary War to life and give an insight into our ancestors' fight for our country's independence from the British.

This is a perfect topic to cover during the Fourth of July holiday.

Our nation's celebration of independence has evolved over many years into a time to get together with families and have cookouts on the lake. We end the evening by watching fireworks.

It's likely few people in Cherokee County were in the mood to do any celebrating on this Fourth of July.

This year's holiday occurred in the midst of a nightmarish week for Cherokee County residents. No community should ever have to go through what was experienced here with the serial killings.

A stress workshop I attended July 9 helped me tremendously in dealing with the stress and anxiety I felt when I returned to Cherokee County from an open water boat picnic on Lake Keowee with my parents over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The workshop was organized by the Spartanburg-based P.A.C.E Center, a nonprofit mental health agency, to provide county residents with tips on coping with the stress and anxiety following the recent tragedies in the community.

Mental health therapist Dr. Roger Rhoades from the P.A.C.E. Center likened the healing process from a devastating event to the struggles some students have with answering a difficult test problem.

For example, a student might take a high level math test and get the first three questions right. Then the student arrives at question No. 4 and doesn't get it. The remainder of the class period passes with the student unable to move forward and complete any other questions on the test.

"Some people are unable to get past these questions and find themselves stuck in life," Rhoades said. "People who are able to come through a situation like this eventually realize life doesn't always make sense and are able to accept the fact some questions don't have answers. These are the people who are successful in healing from a traumatic event and are able to move forward with their lives."

It may take months and even years for some Cherokee County residents to come to terms with a new definition of normal. Like many residents, I am simply grateful to the law enforcement officers and military personnel who put their lives on the line on a daily basis so we can enjoy the freedoms so often taken for granted.

Scott Powell (spowell@gaffneyledger.com) covers edu-