PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1954
SCHWEITZER, THOREAU:
IntellectualEscapism: Einstein as Plumber
By ROY AKERS
pie, studied the startling news the men living today Dr. Albert
THE OTHER day we happened to thoroughly, stroking the pipe Einstein is one of the best known
be sitting in a local beanery, wrench on his lap all the while for and the most loved.
one of the more elegant of the composure. He finished reading, Few men in any human epoch
Midwestern eating places, inhaling glanced over at us, and took a des- can come out of space and remain
steaming cups of dee-licious coffee perate, half-cup sipful of scalding transfixed in time. The greatness
with Harry who happens to be a coffee, before remembering that of immortality is an elusive cloak.
plumber friend of ours. he had forgotten to swallow the In the recent century of a few
The two of us were huddled to- pie. tral seconds some men have
gether reading the same newspa- "Well?" we asked. neared the goal. There was Thor-
per. We always take turns about "He probably ain't had no ex- eau at Walden but Thoreau's
buying the paper. One day Harry perience," Harry sputtered through greatness was a lonely thing, dedi-
puts in four cents and we put in a glob of percolating pi crust, cated to a man who had put him-
three, and the next day vice versa. "but he might do. He could prob- self apart from other men.
Our eyes had glimpsed a front ably count up job estimates pretty His was not a selfish kind of
page news feature concerning the quick and, with a little training, giatness, thougsh, for it express-
expressed, reflective desire of Dr. maybe even learn to fix faucets." ed the courage of a man looking
Albert Einstein to the effect that Harry's eyes brightened. "He inward with detachment at his
if he had it to do all over again might be able to figure me out naked soul. But it was easier in
be would become a plumber. some doozies of tips on the horses. Thoreau's day, than in our own,
We pointed to the article with a And I'm pretty sure, continued to find a Walden Pond.
coffee-soaked doughnut stub, di- Harry pointing at himself, "that And Dr. Albert Schweitzer has
verting Harry's attention from the he could understand me. But how perhaps, more than any other, per-
racing results on the sports page. could I ever understand him?" sonified the man dedicated to his
"How would you like him," we ask- y i fellow men. It is for this dedica-
ed of Harry, "for a helper?" ARRY HAD posed a universal taiy-DiLion: his humanity and his humil-
Harry scanned the head quickly question. SEATED HERMES-A bronze replica of the famous 5th Cen ity that Schweitzer will be remem-
and then, clamping his teeth re- And he had posed it around a tury Greek work in the Museum of Archeology. The original bered most. For Schweitzer's in-
flectively around a chunk of apple universal, human figure. For of all is in the National Museum of Naples. terest is in man living and being
_...... - -et live and not in the natural
#iaWM igsgggelisemese semaNE seimae MMNE~esWE22tennNNREN~iNEN %25miilaws that govern men's lives
It is in these natural laws that
Einstein has been interested most
and he, probably more than any
man living or dead, has come clos-
Short, Enchanting Evening Story .e. totherealm of infinite know-
He has done this with humility,
and he has done it while living
?cwith his fellow man. And, although
his fellow men may regard him
with shyness and awe they look
upon him, too, as one of their own.
For his greatness has not evaded
them in remoteness, and in his
o e grandest moments he has not left
Paris-inspired for your evenings after their side.
dark, or black taffeta gowi is purely IN OUR short life we have come
to know a great many of the
laboring people, the type that
fernining, romantically splendid might be called the common man.
They have not differed in many
with a blaze of striped accentuation. is respects from Harry, our plumber
friend. But what has always struck
Beneath the born-to- us most has been their uncommon.
intuitive judgment of people and
y-things that are rather out of their
dance skirt, a stiffened P'1realm.
In wading the grotesque symbol.
crinoline petticoat. . s m of evil which Faulkner can
y pile deep with a master's touch
above the moulded our friend Harry, for instance, did
not miss the reflection of distort.
ed, if lost, goodness.
waist, a petaled bodice He did not fail to see that Pop-
eye was imprisoned in a perverted
Sizes 8 to 16 world not really of his own mak-
ing, or that Temple Drake was en-
cased in a body, and motivated by
29.95 emotions, not of her own choosing.
But, then, "Sanctuary" was writ-
ten as Faulkner pushed a wheel-
barrow in a powerhouse on the
Snight shift and symbolism, per-
z ( haps, is not as far removed from
the mind of the common man as
one might think.
inAnd if Harry feels that Faulkner
in dalihng withs evil ias touche
goodness then, one has the idea
that Harry might alsa snapect thatU
Dr. Einstein in dealing with space
sasefingered the istricasies of
heaven For it wasn't anything
that Harry said about Einstein
ff , that touched us, you see, it was
just the way he unmindfully boiled
that chunk of pie in his mouth
with the hot coffee.
By now Dr. Einstein has been
sent a plumber's card. We don't
know whether he will make use of
it at this late phase in his life, but
we can only hope that he doesn't.
Even more than Harry needs those
$ racing tips our world needs know.
ledge. And at a time when know.
ledge has come to be looked upon
as something evil it is good to
have men of courage for scholars.
Thoreau and Schweitzer went to
the woods and the jungle. It is
perhaps a commentary upon our
I contemporary hour that Dr. Albert
Einstein has expressed the overt,
reflective desire of becoming a
plumber. The only happy light in
the gloom is that the common man
offered him a plumber's card if he
wanted one. We wonder if our
government would offer him clear-
ance to the classified material he
must already carry around in his
p~sg "v, .qg~" s~. -- . ~' . ""head.
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