"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before."
The above is a quote I recently came across while translating some quotes of the most famous physicist of our time, Albert Einstein. I really like this quote, I mean I like almost all of Einstein quotes but this one resonates more than the other emotionally to me. One should, I suggest, in spare time read his published revolutionary papers from the 1900s and I can guarantee you that his papers will not bore you down with equations and equations and more equations to explain not-so-simple things back then.
Why is it that such a simple, very obvious statement (I mean anyone, not only Einstein, is capable of thinking and blurting it out right?) affect my inner soul, I think comes to 2 points. The woman. No one has ever been before.
I'm partially feminist. What I mean by that is I'm supporter of women's right to say, do, think what's good for them. I don't agree with burning of bras' and whatnot. The latter looks like a messy politics to me. But that aside, I'm all in for a woman independence from being continually subjected to patriarchal hierarchy in the society (we see that everywhere still, even now). My upbringing started out with what looks like male-dominated family. I mean I can recall only small things where my mother, or sisters have a say on stuff. Be it opening your bank account to school report card signatures--it'll always wait for the alpha-males in my family. Of course, girly things like wanting a pink pencil box for new school term are in my mother's prerogative, subject to a nod from my father.
So when I was offered to go to a boarding school (which is just few hours away by water ferry), my mother was devastated. She changed her mind almost every time we speak about whether or not I should accept it. In the morning she'd say something like it's better I'd be sent to such school to straighten me out of my non-budge-ness waking up early in the morning. Later in the afternoon, she'd say something like she'd like to keep me around so that I can learn/practice cooking meals for my own future family. But (thankfully) my dad gave her the ultimatum: I'd be attending the school for the next couple of years for better education. I must say it wasn't very easy for her to let me go on the day we went for my registration at the new school, and she almost made me want to change my mind--to go back and practice my cooking for my own future family. But I didn't. From that moment, I'm all by myself. No familiar faces. No relatives. Just me and a bunch of other kids who look equally worried as me on the first day.
If there's one thing I really love about the school, I'd say it teaches me great value of independence. I mean to say that despite us being overly (sometimes excessively) protected from outsiders influence and all, we still have to work hard to adjust ourselves inside this cocoon. The atmosphere there wasn't very welcoming in the years I've spent my secondary education. Lots of stupid (both IQ and EQ), and even more alarmingly envious girls (oh, and boys too!) in the school. So when moments (sometimes months) I'm subjected to bullying and threats by the senior girls, I tell myself to upfront this and tie myself to a goal, not to focus too much on dwelling personal feelings about the evildoers. And thus, I'd like to always be on my own (sometimes with a couple of good girlfriends) doing things. True enough, the bullies go no further than their crowds, and they're a bunch of losers. Einstein quote is truly true to this part. And I, walking alone have seen myself in places no one has been yet, at least not for the losers.
Doing Physics for your tertiary education and getting your degree from it perhaps opens up only limited opportunity for money-making careers out there. I mean, the dozens of smart kids I've privileged to be friends with are doing something with the machines (engineers), preparing clients ledger accounts, cutting up bodies, and most popular ones running up and about courts. So it's a bit awkward going into a gathering and I hear my good friends talking about things that are real. They must think physicists in general worries about things that are not in the reality. So sometimes I do feel like an outsider, even on general things like American drama series, gameshows and musical idols, as I am admittedly too ignorant to spend my time on such things.
As it is sometimes hard enough to front the good friends I've with my dim career choice, in the department itself sometimes it can be overwhelming. I mean to say that I'm in a department that is 98% of the staff members are male (dominantly white), and male graduate students ratio to female graduate student is about 8:1. Surrounded by men 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week for several years makes me feel like I'm one of them already. It is a fact that I detest it very much when the time of the month creeps in and sometimes slow things down for me. I mean men don't have to worry about getting up from a white seat with some unintentional marks left there, right? But nevertheless, I've always been treated like a princess here. Because 1) I wear nice smiles that everyone love here, 2) My supervisor will lift up big things in the lab for me because he's worried I'd hurt myself. In summary, I couldn't imagine myself doing Physics and being treated with kind respect here had I stick to the crowd.
It's a good thing to wander off the crowd. Sometimes, in a crowd, one finds it hard to know where one is going.
Why is it that such a simple, very obvious statement (I mean anyone, not only Einstein, is capable of thinking and blurting it out right?) affect my inner soul, I think comes to 2 points. The woman. No one has ever been before.
I'm partially feminist. What I mean by that is I'm supporter of women's right to say, do, think what's good for them. I don't agree with burning of bras' and whatnot. The latter looks like a messy politics to me. But that aside, I'm all in for a woman independence from being continually subjected to patriarchal hierarchy in the society (we see that everywhere still, even now). My upbringing started out with what looks like male-dominated family. I mean I can recall only small things where my mother, or sisters have a say on stuff. Be it opening your bank account to school report card signatures--it'll always wait for the alpha-males in my family. Of course, girly things like wanting a pink pencil box for new school term are in my mother's prerogative, subject to a nod from my father.
So when I was offered to go to a boarding school (which is just few hours away by water ferry), my mother was devastated. She changed her mind almost every time we speak about whether or not I should accept it. In the morning she'd say something like it's better I'd be sent to such school to straighten me out of my non-budge-ness waking up early in the morning. Later in the afternoon, she'd say something like she'd like to keep me around so that I can learn/practice cooking meals for my own future family. But (thankfully) my dad gave her the ultimatum: I'd be attending the school for the next couple of years for better education. I must say it wasn't very easy for her to let me go on the day we went for my registration at the new school, and she almost made me want to change my mind--to go back and practice my cooking for my own future family. But I didn't. From that moment, I'm all by myself. No familiar faces. No relatives. Just me and a bunch of other kids who look equally worried as me on the first day.
If there's one thing I really love about the school, I'd say it teaches me great value of independence. I mean to say that despite us being overly (sometimes excessively) protected from outsiders influence and all, we still have to work hard to adjust ourselves inside this cocoon. The atmosphere there wasn't very welcoming in the years I've spent my secondary education. Lots of stupid (both IQ and EQ), and even more alarmingly envious girls (oh, and boys too!) in the school. So when moments (sometimes months) I'm subjected to bullying and threats by the senior girls, I tell myself to upfront this and tie myself to a goal, not to focus too much on dwelling personal feelings about the evildoers. And thus, I'd like to always be on my own (sometimes with a couple of good girlfriends) doing things. True enough, the bullies go no further than their crowds, and they're a bunch of losers. Einstein quote is truly true to this part. And I, walking alone have seen myself in places no one has been yet, at least not for the losers.
Doing Physics for your tertiary education and getting your degree from it perhaps opens up only limited opportunity for money-making careers out there. I mean, the dozens of smart kids I've privileged to be friends with are doing something with the machines (engineers), preparing clients ledger accounts, cutting up bodies, and most popular ones running up and about courts. So it's a bit awkward going into a gathering and I hear my good friends talking about things that are real. They must think physicists in general worries about things that are not in the reality. So sometimes I do feel like an outsider, even on general things like American drama series, gameshows and musical idols, as I am admittedly too ignorant to spend my time on such things.
As it is sometimes hard enough to front the good friends I've with my dim career choice, in the department itself sometimes it can be overwhelming. I mean to say that I'm in a department that is 98% of the staff members are male (dominantly white), and male graduate students ratio to female graduate student is about 8:1. Surrounded by men 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week for several years makes me feel like I'm one of them already. It is a fact that I detest it very much when the time of the month creeps in and sometimes slow things down for me. I mean men don't have to worry about getting up from a white seat with some unintentional marks left there, right? But nevertheless, I've always been treated like a princess here. Because 1) I wear nice smiles that everyone love here, 2) My supervisor will lift up big things in the lab for me because he's worried I'd hurt myself. In summary, I couldn't imagine myself doing Physics and being treated with kind respect here had I stick to the crowd.
It's a good thing to wander off the crowd. Sometimes, in a crowd, one finds it hard to know where one is going.
Comment: I've never managed to straight myself out from jumping out of bed earlier than 8 am to this day, despite all the repetitive routine from my high school that starts at around 5 am.
