This world is filled to the brim with some pretty remarkable people. Most of them, do not reach levels of notoriety or fame. Most likely, we will never learn of the vast and enormous amounts of genius in the world. But they are everywhere.
And of course, history has given us several standouts. The ones we hear about.
It seems though, that the most brilliant minds are also a bit on the quirky side.
How about Pythagoras? He was a superior mathematician and philosopher. Of epic proportions. But what most people don’t know, is that he was, sort of, “the father of vegetarianism.” Old Pythag was not a meat eater. He subsisted solely on veggies, that guy. But, he would not eat a bean. A big thumbs down for legumes. He even told his followers, they should not ingest beans, or even touch them.
It did him no good in the end. No one truly knows the reason for his aversion to beans. But, it probably led to his death. According to legend, attackers ambushed Pythagoras, and he refused to escape by running through a bean field.
Then there was Ben Franklin. Back in those days, water baths were very rare. Of course, there were no showers either. But old Ben would air it out. Every day, before he began his work, Benjamin Franklin would spend up to an hour, naked as a jaybird, standing in front of his open window. He called these his “air baths.” He probably invented the air guitar too. But this is a fuzzy fact which I just made up. But it is a good visual. Ben. Playing the air guitar. Naked. In his open window.
Bathing has its different sides. Ludwig van Beethoven was a water guy. His path to his compositions was pretty quirky, I would say. Beethoven liked to do his writing in between visits to his washstand. He would write a little bit, then he would pace around. In between his writings, Beethoven poured water all over himself and his floorboards. I think he was trying to make his music flow.
One of my favorite geniuses was Tesla. The master of electricity. Nikola Tesla had a strange habit. Toe curls. Yep. He’d curl his toes 100 times per foot. Every night before bed. Tesla thought the practice boosted his brain cells. I am guessing it might have worked. He was one very smart guy. Not to mention, he had amazing toe-strength. He could lift a car with those things.
The truth of it is, we all have our own little bit of genius. We are brilliant in our unique, meaningful, wonderful ways.
Of course, we all have our quirks too.
Well. I do, at least. I have quirks coming out of my quirks.
Yet. No matter what it is, we should all let our genius eek out a little. Each day. Let it flow like Beethoven’s washtub. Air it out like Ben. Curl your Tesla Toes if it makes you feel smarter.
But give it to the world, in as much, there is no other quite like it. Truly, because, it comes from wonderful, wonderful you.
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“Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don’t fit into boxes.”
― Tori Amos
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“Even I never dreamed of Magic like this!”
― C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
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“Never stop wandering into wonder.”
― Suzy Kassem
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