Ordinary




Ordinary Jar

I was reading an article yesterday about Madam Curie (Smithsonian). Her public persona apparently was spun by a journalist who knew that this great scientist would not be seen as the extraordinary person she was based on her terms, so she created a saint-like image for the audience of the time who favored nurturing qualities in females more than in their critical thinking skills.



Madam Curie did not recognize this image of herself; rather, thinking of herself as ordinary in virtue and working to discover radioactive elements only for the sake of scientific discovery.  Though her discoveries were ultimately the foundation for the development of medical X-ray technology, she never set out to save or even better the world.

It is always fascinating to me how people spin perceptions.  Can you make the ordinary extraordinary?  Isn't this how we create our idols to some extent?  The interplay of worth, value, utility, contribution, uniqueness and a collective thought are all variables in this equation, but I think sometimes extraordinariness is perhaps just the ordinary - illuminated.