Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Another Accidental Genius


Many years ago, my daughter gave me a small sign that read:  “I’m a Genius!”  I proudly took the sign to the construction site where I was working and taped it to the highest front rung on my step ladder.

A few days after posting the sign, one of my coworkers dragged by me while I stood working atop the ladder.  “Love your sign,” he observed with a snicker.

“Yeah, I’m a genius,” I barked at him.

“Really,” he said, grinning broadly.  “That is not exactly what the sign on your ladder says.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you looked at the sign in the last day or so?”

When I peered down over the top of my ladder to see the sign posted on the upper support rung, I saw that someone with an indelible marker had changed the sign to read: “I’m a Penius!”

So ended my brief stint as a genius.

I have not abandoned all hope on becoming an authentic genius.  I am—the same as everyone—just one smack on the head from becoming an accidental genius.  A couple days ago, I read another article about someone who suddenly became a genius following a traumatic head injury.  According to a story I found at ABC News online, Leigh Erceg was an ordinary, tomboyish, rancher from Colorado before tumbling down a rock-strewn ravine while feeding chickens on her ranch.  The fall left Leigh with traumatic head injuries.

Leigh, age 47, remembers nothing of the fall, or of her previous life.  As she recovered from her fall, she could “hear” colors and “see” sounds.  Now, fully recovered, Leigh Erceg has not regained any memories of her previous life; but, today, her mind is filled with astoundingly complex mathematical equations, poetry, artwork, and senses that merge together in ways that baffle the rest of us.

After much study by doctors and researchers, Leigh has been identified as the only woman in the world with “acquired savant syndrome.”  She now has vastly superior cognitive skills in the realm of mathematics and art.  The fall also left Leigh with “synesthesia,” the mixing of senses.  As she listens to music, she also sees colors.  Along with the loss of all previous memories, Leigh suffers from something called “flat effect.”  In blunt terms, she has lost the ability to feel emotion.

Leigh Erceg presently spends her days immersed in thoughts of mathematics as she draws her unusual works of art.  Her old life is seemingly gone forever.

As for me: I have plenty of emotion.  Unless I take a nasty fall while feeding my 40 pounds of housecat, I will likely remain a mere penius.
 
--Mitchell Hegman   (Photo: ABC)

 For a short video click on this link: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/colorado-rancher-suffers-traumatic-brain-injury-accidental-genius/story?id=31053667 

2 comments:

  1. Interesting story. Reminded me of a recent movie about a woman who, after a car accident, stopped aging. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Hmmm. I think I would prefer no aging to being good at math!

    ReplyDelete