Jerry and the Einstein Report

14-05-24 00 / episode: 386

Jerry had to write a report. He had to choose a famous person, and write about them from a different angle. If he got a good mark, he could pass this course, but if he got an average mark, he might fail. He had to write very good. That meant he had to write something original. He was very bad at being original.

Hi and welcome to the Les Perras Podcast episode number 386. This episode is about Einstein.

Einstein was Great

Jerry thought that Einstein was great. Not writing about his greatness would miss the point. Jerry did NOT want to miss the point. So he started off his essay saying that Einstein was the man of the century according to Time magazine. But why was Einstein great? Jerry read and read. but the more he read, the more confused he got. He could not explain why Einstein was so great without explaining Einstein's ideas. And Jerry could NOT understand his ideas! He began to panic! He started sweating and breathing fast. He worried that he was going to fail this course. Then he got an idea.

Einstein's Shortcomings

Jerry decided to write about why Einstein was NOT that great. Then he could say something that made sense. And then it hit him: this was ORIGINAL! Jerry was almost crazy with happiness. He could pass the course. so then he started to look for reasons why Einstein was not that great. And he looked. And he looked. Then the nervousness began to creep up. They proved Einstein was right with this experiment. then they proved he was right again with that experiment. And then another. Jerry began to feel fear again. Einstein was a great thinker and they just kept proving he was right. How could Jerry find a shortcoming? Just as he was starting to feel down, he noticed a small comment in one of the articles. This might save his life!

Personal life

Jerry read that Einstein's personal life was not very good. SO, Jerry decided to search more. AND He found that Einstein got married two times. AND THEN he discovered that the FBI watched Einstein for years and years. Did the FBI think Einstein was BAD? On TOP of all this, Jerry found things saying that Einstein was a bad father. He wrote once that he wished his son had never been born! What kind of father was that? Einstein was not very good with personal relationships, it seemed. Then Jerry read that Einstein might have had Asperger's syndrome. This could explain why Einstein had more personal problems than many people.

Weak Points

So Einstein had weak points after all! He did not make much money even though he was famous. He lost money in investments. He got divorced, and in fact he had lots of girlfriends through his life. Jerry's essay was getting more and more interesting.

Result

Jerry wrote his essay. He did not write any explanation of Einstein's ideas. He wrote that despite being famous for his scientific ideas, the private side of his life was not very good. In a sense, Jerry wrote in his essay, Einstein's life was kind of balanced. He had a wonderful public life and not so wonderful private life. The result was a very good score on his essay. Jerry felt so relieved! Now he could pass his course, and he would not have to take it over again. What's more, Jerry got a sense of confidence that he could write and he could be original!