[illustration, James Dobson, New Man, October, 1994, p. 36.]
This is an exert from an article that James Dobson wrote in 1994 about Stephen Hawking, whom I believe has since died…
Stephen Hawking is an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and perhaps the most intelligent man on earth.
He has advanced the general theory of relativity farther than any person since Albert Einstein.
Unfortunately, Hawking is afflicted with ALS Syndrome (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
It will eventually take his life.
He has been confined to a wheelchair for years, where he can do little more than sit and think.
Hawking has lost the ability even to speak, and now he communicates by means of a computer that is operated from the tiniest movement of his fingertips.
Quoting from an Omni magazine article: He is too weak to write, feed himself, comb his hair, fix his glasses--all this must be done for him.
Yet this most dependent of all men has escaped invalid status.
His personality shines through the messy details of his existence.
Hawking said that before he became ill, he had very little interest in life.
He called it a "pointless existence" resulting from sheer boredom.
He drank too much and did very little work.
Then he learned he had ALS Syndrome and was not expected to live more than two years.
The ultimate effect of that diagnosis, beyond its initial shock, was extremely positive.
He claimed to have been happier after he was afflicted than before.
How can that be understood? Hawking provided the answer.
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