Last Words
We will never know what the last words of Albert Einstein were because the nurse attending him in his last moments did not speak or understand German.
I find it interesting that the one man who had probably delved more into the making of this world of ours than any other, spoke his final thoughts he was heard to do so,but not understood.
Imagine what ponderous thoughts might have been stated in those last words! Or, think ,as well,on how trivial they might have been. We will never know which they were nd we can think of ourselves as having lost a part of the famous and uniquely talented man's overall contribution too our society. If he made a momentous statement of some nature,then we have missed a valuable word of assistance which may have improved our lot. On the other hand,it may have been that he spoke in a less scholarly line of thought, then we have missed the subtle,intensely human side of the man we probably hurt in some way by taking him too seriously all of the time.
With hindsight, of course,it is easy enough for us to wonder why those in charge of the case did no specify that a nurse fluent in German would be present to properly assist the man in whatever he expressed his desires to be. Or,an interpreter could have been present.
Often, men of Einstein's caliber and reputation have made summary statements of their work or ideas as death came near. Some seemed see a bridge into a finer realm while others do not glimpse such a nirvana. Some have said things which are difficult to fathom and those are usually dismissed as products of a confused mind in those final moments. No doubt there have been some such quoted texts which are pure fabrications of people in the vicinity who heard what they thought the dying person may have said.
It may be that we take such death-bed utterances far too seriously,and in doing so, often bend the memory of the person to suit our own thinking and thus, I fear ,we lose a part of their real nature.
Albert Einstein, in addition to being a learned professor type,also exhibited a very humorous portion of his life and times, as well My favorite story is one that is told about his professorial duties at,I believe, Princeton. Was it not?
After a long day of teaching, Einstein is said to have left his classroom;stopped a shop where he purchased a large ice cream cone. He licked that cone of ice cream almost the entire way home. That alone would not have been unusual,I suppose,but he did all that while balancing on a single rail of the railroad tracks which led in the same direction as the street towards his lodgings. He teetered on the single rail in a tight-rope routine; his long coat fluttering; his shock of billowing white hair tossed about by the sunny breeze!
Einstein is best viewed, not solely from the dour atomic bomb-devotee theme, but as a human being. He experienced his share of family troubles about which we are seldom told. He lived a rather average life in troubled political times. Perhaps he did lean a bit toward the eccentric side for most of us, but when we ascribe too much seriousness to him the soft,humorous side of his nature we do him an injustice.
Of course,it makes little difference what he might have said in his last moments among us. If I were you ,I wouldn't worry too much about it.
But, I am not you. I am me. And, I will continue to wonder what he said.
My guess is that it was something of a wryly humorous nature and somewhat of “our-world” rather than a universe-shaking pronouncement. The roly-poly image of the great man sticks with me easier than the stern academic visage.
A.L.M. September 27, 2002
