March 14, 2018 - 03:21
I tried to think of a clever evocative title, but I really couldn't come up with anything that wasn't cheap or wrong.
Dr. Hawking has been a hero of mine since I was really little. He wasn't one of those heroes you want to be, because I was clear from a young age that I wasn't brilliant enough to be a visionary theoretical physicist. He was one of those heroes who's just there in the background of life letting you know that things are okay. They're right there if the world ever needs a hand.
I read this Washington Post article about his death and I immediately noticed the language of "overcoming." Later on in the article he was quoted as agreeing with the description of the "disabled genius" except that he was wary of accepting the description of "genius." The article describes how indifferently he pursued his studies before his diagnosis and how fervently his curiosity burned after it. Was there a connection between his disability and his genius? I don't know. I certainly don't want to fall into the trap of attributing increased powers in other areas to disability in one particular one as that isn't always how things go. Blind people don't naturally and immediately gain echolocative hearing. But part of the reason I'm a good writer and speaker is because I did debate instead of sports because those were never going to be on the table for me. I don't know whether Dr. Hawking would have drawn any connection between disability and drive or opportunity or anything. I'm really just fumbling around.
Dr. Hawking's life and marriages provide a fascinating story of becoming disabled and living with disability. His wife Jane told her side of this story in her memoir "Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen" which was adapted into the film "The Theory of Everything" which I love dearly and which is justifiably controversial in the disabiliy community, and Stephen wrote his own account in his memoir "My Brief History." Disclaimer: I haven't read either book and don't want it to seem as though I pretend to have done so. However, I did just run across and watch half of an 80 minute documentary about him and filled with his voice on YouTube called "A Brief History of Mine." His story is full of disability and hearing him tell it in this documentary is calming and helpful.
Dr. Hawking was an inspiring speaker. He took some of the most complicated ideas in the human lexicon and made them accessible to broad audiences. He understood that the most important way he could ensure his legacy was by passing on his beautiful shining curiosity on to the next generation. It absolutely worked on me. Dr. Hawking named his heroes and Galileo and Einstein to name two. These men are remembered long after their deaths as I hope Dr. Hawking's incredible voice will be. I hope I can tell my kids that I got to hear Hawking on the news and that I was around when he was publishing his work and probing the foundations of the universe and living his life.
Sorry for going on. Processing the deaths of beloved celebrities should be done in the light of day rather than at 2:00 in the morning. If I've gabbled or wandered or erred, I do apologize. Clarity eludes me, but this felt like a space where a little messy thinking was okay.