I was staring at a picture of Stephen Hawkins this evening.His new book is coming out in a week.
It's difficult to believe the grim twisted body of this little man holds genius.
It's something I've been thinking about all week....genius in unexpected people...because Mort died last week.
Mort was a small thin man with white hair and blue eyes. He smelled a bit greasy...old man greasy.
When I first started attending services....I noticed Mort right away.
He shuffled into the temple and immediately headed for the goodies on the Oneg table....a small table set up with appetizers. He rarely moved from the spot by the hummus dip and chips.
Mort never talked to many people he just hovered over his chip and dip.... so many people didn't interact with him.
One day, I walked up to him and said, "Hello I'm Gina" and kissed him on the cheek-a gesture which is customary before services. He looked up, smiled just a bit, and said, "I'm Mort."
That's it......and when services started he sat in the aisle seat in the first row and pulled out a large magnifying glass out of his pocket to follow along in the prayer book.
After services.....he was shuttled off by a driver.
So it was my custom to say hello and kiss Mort every week.
Sometimes when he wore a suit jacket.....I would say, "Mort you look dapper tonight." He'd chuckle and nod.
That was the extent of our conversation.
I asked people about Mort and was told he was a physician, in his 80's, retired and married. I never saw his wife. I expected her to be in her 80's too and probably too infirm to attend services.
When I received the email announcing Mort had died....I was stunned.
I saw him three days ago and he looked fine....correction....he looked like Mort always did....frail but resilient.
I attended the Memorial Service a couple of days ago.
I needed a chin strap.....
The family passed out a memorial pamphlet with a picture of him in his Navy uniform in World War II plus a biography of his life.
I was stunned.
He was New Yorker....Harvard educated....a leader in his specialty. He joined a practice with his brother who was described as very type A.....Mort took all the patients that needed extra time and patience. Most interesting was after her first marriage ended.....Mort started courting a woman 20 years younger than he was....he wrote her Shakespearean-type sonnets....stunning in their beauty and depth and skill with the English language.
On and on .....family members talked about his accomplishments....how he suffered a stroke 10 years ago and was told he would never walk or talk again.....well he wasn't a huge conversationalist but he walked unaided.....and he spoke plainly.
Perhaps not a genius.....but close to it....he had been a vibrant scientist in his community....but he looked like a little old man....and people treated him that way.....and I'm not sure how many people knew the near genius that lurked behind this old man exterior.
I'm not sure anyone asked......
If you saw Stephen Hawking in a hospital corridor....covered with a blanket without attendants....how many of us would withdraw and shudder a bit at the sight of this shriveled man....what could he contribute to the world?
Just theories about quantum gravity and black holes, string mechanics and the Big Bang Theory...to name a few.....
All that from a little shriveled deformed man......
I am not sure I can lay out what procedures or advances Mort specifically advanced....but I am a bit ashamed I wrote him off so easily....I'm a bit ashamed I didn't take more time to talk to him versus tease him about his sport coats.....what we see is not always what is there.
It is such a common lessons and one that is very hard to learn.
