Happy Birthday Albert Einstein
by Miki Saxon
Are you smart? Are you impressed with those considered brilliant?
Do you look for signs of genius in your kids?
Can you really tell at an early age?
Monday was Albert Einstein’s 137th birthday.
Einstein was nicknamed “der Depperte” — the dopey one — by the family maid, because he was slow to learn to talk.
He couldn’t find a job teaching, so worked in the patent office in Bern, Germany, while he wrote some of his most important papers.
He was still there when he wrote the paper that underlies E=mc2.
He didn’t get an offer to teach for another four years — and almost didn’t accept because of the low salary and his description to a friend isn’t exactly complimentary.
“So, now I too am an official member of the guild of whores.”
Although Einstein’s family knew he was famous that didn’t understand why. His answer when his son asked him offers great insight to his attitude.
“When a blind beetle crawls over the surface of a curved branch, it doesn’t notice that the track it has covered is indeed curved. I was lucky enough to notice what the beetle didn’t notice.”
Entitlement was neither part of his life nor of his beliefs. He was a socialist and detested and fought the discrimination so rampant in his adopted US homeland.
He lived by his values, expeditious of not, and died by them, too, when he refused treatment (an attitude the “live forever tech crowd” should embrace).
“It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.”
BI has a great overview of Einstein’s life that is well worth reading.
And after you’ve done so, take a look at how your own values stack up.
Image credit: Wikipedia
