[lit-ideas] Re: Einstein (and Grass)

Ursula Stange wrote:

Isn't there a story about Einstein that he didn't speak until a fairly old age (young, old age)? Reminds me of the hero of Gunter Grass's The Tin Drum. He doesn't speak because he has nothing to say until he's six years old or something (going from thirty year old memory here -- which is actually sometimes easier than two day old memory). 

Older than this even:

Bob's parents are worried. He hasn't started to talk yet. They take him into the doctor, who says "Just wait. He's just a bit slower to talk than most kids, but he'll start soon." So they wait. A year goes by--Bob's four now. Another year. No speech.
Another year. Bob's now five, and he's a normal kid, but he doesn't talk. He does everything else a five year old does, but he doesn't say a thing.

Finally, one morning, he says "This oatmeal is lumpy!"

"BOB!" his Mom exclaims. "YOU'RE TALKING! What happened--Why did you wait so long?

"Oatmeal wasn't lumpy before" Bob says.



Maybe if we didn't do everything for kids, they would do more for themselves?

--
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"Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence and ignorance." -------------------------------------------------
John Wager johnwager@xxxxxxxxxxx
Forest Park, IL, USA


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