Respect is an ExtraOrdinary Word – many Forms and many Reasons

RESPECT

Respect is an ExtraOrdinary Word – many Forms and many Reasons

What is Respect?

According to the dictionary it is defined as “a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.”

” the director had a lot of respect for Douglas as an actor.”

This is a perfect description of an interesting person… Albert Einstein.

ExtraOrdinary Word – many Forms and many Reasons

I like that word “extraordinary”. It is literally has an “extra” level to it. If you are called extraordinary it means you have all the ordinary things people would expect, plus EXTRA. There isn’t a person educated in the last 100 years that doesn’t believe that Albert Einstein is an extraordinary person, or at least that he had an extraordinary brain.

That belief might have them see Albert Einstein as someone gifted with something unusual and unattainable; or it might have them seeing Albert as just a Patent Clerk that stumbled across some unique ideas and presented them in a way that was (finally) understandable; or it might have them seeing Einstein as the most powerful scientific brain in history, the “inventor” of nuclear weapons and power… yet pacifist; activist; violinist; professor; philosopher; father; celebrity… smaller than average brain size (but that is a whole other story).

No matter what the belief is, or position an individual has about someone it is based in whether they can or cannot, will or will not respect them. And Albert Einstein was (and still is) no different.

His ability to generate opinion and reaction from practically anyone is EXTRAordinary, and those opinions and reactions only exist/occur because of how someone Respects Albert Einstein; get a quick view of his life on Wikipedia:

Albert Einstein, 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955, was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest physicists of all time.

In 1905, a year sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (‘miracle year’), Einstein published four groundbreaking papers. These outlined the theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced special relativity, and demonstrated mass-energy equivalence. Einstein thought that the laws of classical mechanics could no longer be reconciled with those of the electromagnetic field, which led him to develop his special theory of relativity. He then extended the theory to gravitational fields; he published a paper on general relativity in 1916, introducing his theory of gravitation. In 1917, he applied the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light and the quantum theory of radiation, which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. However, for much of the later part of his career, he worked on two ultimately unsuccessful endeavors. First, despite his great contributions to quantum mechanics, he opposed what it evolved into, objecting that nature “does not play dice”. Second, he attempted to devise a unified field theory by generalizing his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism. As a result, he became increasingly isolated from the mainstream of modern physics.

Without Understanding, Respect cannot Exist

His life was full of Respects. Respect from his peers for his amazing year of 1905; awarded his PhD from the University of Zurich, then publishing 4 incredible papers that have influenced all the sciences ever since. This year, 1905, would go on to enable and curse him the rest of his life.

It eventually opened doors to the academic and scientific worlds, starting at age 26, typically reserved for only the most profound thinkers and experimentalists of much greater tenure. This created admiration and envy amongst many in his field.

Admired for his abilities, envied for his ballistic rise in status among scientists and mathematicians. Either position requires Respect to exist. The Admirer’s Esteem says that they hold Albert in high regard and worthy of Respect. The Envious person understands the Scope and difficulty of such an accomplishment and is forced to Respect Einstein’s placement.

A couple interesting things about Albert Einstein and a common consideration related to how people Respect him:

A competent Mathematician: although it is not true that Albert failed math in school, he was not nearly as good a Mathematician as he was a Theoretical Physicist… he was still an “above average” math student. Some of his naysayers say things like “he didn’t even do the math for his General Theory of Relativity; how can people say he was one of the greatest minds of all time?!” Whereas his proponents applaud Albert’s humility in asking a long-time colleague and excellent mathematician to help him with the math it took to create General Theory of Relativity. Both perspectives require Understanding the Scope of Albert’s accomplishments and the Esteem it generated; these are the 3 critical elements for Respecting someone.

Turns Out World Famous Big Brains are Only Human too…

A poor Husband/Father: it is well known that Albert Einstein divorced his wife and left her and his son to pursue his Academic/Scientific career. What is less well known is that in an attempt to get his wife to sign the divorce papers Albert promised his wife that, when he won the Nobel Prize, he would give her all the prize money. His naysayers cite how horrible it was to leave his wife and son without a stable home and financial stability… especially egregious because of the Scope of Albert’s fame in the following years. His proponents talk about how much integrity Albert had – despite a very sad result for his wife and son – because he did win the Nobel Prize shortly after the divorce papers were signed, and then he did indeed give her all the prize money as promised.

Conclusion

Albert Einstein had many layers of chaos and disorganization, he had aspects of his life that fell apart and were difficult to understand, but who hasn’t had these things? Through all of his life his life he had a very clear vision of what he wanted and had the profound Discipline necessary to see them come to fruition and develop beyond even his imagination (like aspects of “Quantum Physics”, but that again is a whole other story). His Spirit was indominable and uncritical. He never declined a new interesting idea or the chance to play his violin.

An ExtraOrdinary person and thinker, with a very ordinary human life regarding love, life and longevity.


 

I feel like Respect is in everything I do and am, it feels like a pillar in my personal structure, I am always aware of its effects on me and anyone around me.  Are you?

Share your thoughts on Respect and what it means to you.

Perhaps you could share with us someone you believe generates the same kind of two-sided Respect (i.e. Respect/Envy) as Albert Einstein does.