Remembering Einstein

Over this last weekend I was brought down by a sudden burst of a hot body with fever running to 104. Kate of course was beside herself trying to convince me to go to the ER. I must admit having been there on far too many occasions and developed a most stubborn resistance. This was Saturday at the ER. It’s sort of High Noon time at midnight. I just figure the triage women has a tough enough job without listening to my bitching. We end up not going.

From my description of symptoms, Kate is in touch with our Internist. He was certain that I was suffering from a bladder or urethra infection and prescribed the antibiotic Cipro for my “plumbing problem?” The Cipro and Tylenol seemed to get the fever down to a point where we could begin to relax.

I’m coming to Einstein, be patient. It was in the early 30ies, I was working at a Power House that fed Montifiore Hospital at the top of the Bronx. It had originally been built as a Tuberculosis hospital, hence up high on top of Gun Hill Road in the North Bronx. I guess it still was a TB hospital when I worked in the Power House. The advent of penicillin pretty much wiped out that scourge I heard as a child referred to as “the consumption.” I was told not to go near a particular person because they were coughing and spitting into a paper cup. My God that was scary, especially when the person died.

It was on a lovely spring day, probably in May, that I was sent to shut down a large water feed pipe on the far western side of the complex. As I walked through the garden grounds with a three foot wrench over my shoulder, there sitting on a bench, easily recognized, was none other than Albert Einstein. I am not certain, but I think it was his wife he was visiting as a patient in the hospital.

As I walked by he said, “Hello son, and what is your job?” I was shocked and surprised that he would bother with someone like me. I hadn’t even gone to High School. As I lowered the wrench from my shoulder, I explained that I was working in the Power House as an apprentice machinist, but I also had to help out with plumbing emergencies when they came up. He thought that learning a real trade was a wonderful idea.

He also commented on how the human body is very much like plumbing. All the tubes and pipes that carry food and water through our systems in many ways can be seen as “the human plumbing system.” He continued, “So you see, you are in the right place to learn your trade. How about the heart as a pump?” His questions began to make me anxious. “How about all that blood the heart has to pump all the time just to keep you alive? How about the pumps you have here?” “Yes,” I replied, “we have dozens of ‘em.” “See,” he said, “there you are. And maybe you can learn some things about that human pump.” He laughed, said a good day and goodbye.

I was so overjoyed I found myself singing and running to my shut-off valve assignment. My boss questioned my lateness. When I told him about my Einstein visit he laughed and said, “Yup, everybody who has passed him out there has had a conversation. Just a great regular guy.”

As you see, I have never forgotten that beautiful moment when the world’s greatest living scientist took a little time to schmooze with a very young man just starting to make his way in the world. That lesson has stayed with me. It was so very helpful in the years I worked with troubled kids on the Lower East Side. Never ever underestimate the importance of recognizing a young person’s effort to make their way in the world. No, you and I are not Einstein. No matter. The generosity of caring is what’s important and that’s what he taught me. Thank you Albert Einstein. Final note, my plumbing system seems to be working just fine again for now.

Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.