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| 'A glance out of the window as I read', Winter 2014 |
One of the things that I enjoy most about the winter is
tucking my bike up for hibernation and buying a public transport ticket for the
cold icy months. I enjoy doing this because it means I get ¾ hour in the morning
and another ¾ of an hour in the evening to read!
With my Chekhov finished and the next book not yet
begun, on Friday I had my current copy of Time magazine with me where I read
about Carl Djerassi who died at the end of January, aged 91.
Reading his biography, where he is described as a
Renaisance man – ‘an eminent professor, chemist and pioneering bio-medical
entrepreneur’ … ‘he also wrote poetry, plays, and novels, collected important
art, started a cattle range and established an artist’s residency program’, I
thought about András Pető.
At only sixteen years of age Carl Djerassi emigrated
from Austria to the USA where he wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt for help. It was her
intervention that allowed him to attend university and begin on his successful
journey through life.
What I wondered as I sat on the tram on Friday reading
about some of the things that Carl Djerassi has given the world during his
lifetime was – what if AP had chosen to emigrate to the USA from Austria rather than to
return to his homeland of Hungary? What if AP had lived in America and had had
someone intervene to help him start his journey through life in his chosen
country? How would Conductive Education have developed had AP been in America
with the support of grants and scholarships?
Who knows, but it could have been a different story.
Who knows, but it could have been a different story.
You can read about Carl Djerassi here –
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