Edison tries empathy
Sept 4, 2018 15:17:00 GMT -8
Post by plusx2a on Sept 4, 2018 15:17:00 GMT -8
Despite himself, Edison began to like Ophelia. He has made it a particular habit of not becoming to “familiar” with his graduate students. Edison was a professor and not a camp counselor. Becoming involved in the personal lives of run of the mill 20 somethings was not at all what he wanted to spend his time on. Much of the time it made him seem haughty and aloof. Many prescribed it as an affectation of his station, but in reality Edison just found them boorish. Ophelia was not run of the mill.
Late one night, Edison had discovered Ophelia openly weeping. Normally, Edison would disregard these episodes. It was not the first time he saw a graduate student openly cry. Yet, Ophelia seemed to have a disciplined mind, dedicated to her work and studies. The work did not seem particularly overwhelming now that Edison had a clear idea of the young woman’s brilliance. That would leave some form of personal problem. Therefore, Edison should not care, but for some reason he did.
Edison went over it in his mind. He had a particular knack for creating a virtual image of a place in his mind. He could then walk through that image almost as if it were a simulation. There was Ophelia and all the equipment she had shoved into the pantry that Edison had taken over as a makeshift lab in his father’s estate. Looking over the papers that were on the table, there were several notes about Henderson’s Disease. Edison recognized the name of the illness. It was similar to ALS, but only targeted those with the X Gene. Now, Edison was truly curious and Edison’s curiosity had a force and will of its own.
The good professor then began to do some research. It didn’t take long to determine that Ophelia’s mother was being treated for the disease. Which meant that Ophelia’s mother was an X and was dying from an incurable disease. Edison considered this for a while. He knew what it was like to lose a parent and how alone he felt afterwards. For all intents and purposes, Ophelia’s mother was dying because she had the X-gene. He felt….odd. Perhaps this is what empathy feels like? Edison did not like it.
The next day the professor decided that he would have a talk with Ophelia. He felt anxious and insecure. Edison makes it a point to not get involved in other people’s personal lives. Yet, everything seems to be a distraction from his work these days. Could it be that his interactions with these other X’s in pursuit of this shadowy anti-x organization made him more open to these kinds of interactions? No, it wasn’t that. It was… That’s it!
“Ophelia, do you have a moment?” Edison walked into the lab and began cleaning his spectacles.
“Of course professor. I was finishing up some of these gene samples for you.” Ophelia rubbed her temples and looked absolutely exhausted.
Edison placed his glasses back on, but took a second to look over them at Ophelia and say, “Are you getting enough rest? It would be unseemly if it were to appear that I am overworking you.”
Ophelia straightened her lab coat and smoothed her hair. “No sir, not at all. I have not been having very restful sleep lately, but I am not overworked. As a matter of fact, I enjoy keeping my mind on this instead of..”
“Your mother?” Edison said casually.
Ophelia seemed startled. “How did you.. I mean I never told you..”
“Pardon my intrusion. I simply saw that you were upset and it posed a bit of a mystery, which is my weakness.” Edison sat down next to her and put his hands flatly on his lap.
“You know, my mother passed when I was quite young. I had never felt so alone. We were close. Close in a way I have never been with anyone else. She understood.” Edison gave Ophelia a meaningful look as if to say “I might understand as well.”
“If you don’t mind me asking sir, how did she pass?” Tears welled up in Ophelia’s eyes. She was trying furiously to control it, almost shaking.
“She took her own life. You see, she was trapped by titanic circumstance and a victim of the same. My mother came from one of the finest families in Britain. A woman of breeding, class, education and distinction of service. Yet, she had great secrets and was therefore unable to live to be her truest self and love in the way she felt she needed to. I was the only one who knew and that was only because I caught her and Miss… she loved… Let’s just say she was different and could not live her life with that difference, was forced to live a cruel lie and so she decided to end it.” Edison stammered as he realized he had never spoken to another human being about this.
At this point Ophelia could not stop the tears. She looked at Edison with a tender compassion he had not seen since his mother died. She leapt at Edison and embraced him with all her strength. Edison could do nothing but stand there paralyzed. He did not like physical contact and was unable to process what was happening.
Edison gently pushed Ophelia away and cleared his throat. “You have my deepest condolences. I have recently realized that you and I have much in common. As such, I thought it would be comforting to know that I have suffered through something similar and have survived it as I am sure you will.
You and I both know thermodynamics and that everything, even the universe itself will eventually fall to entropy. There is no natural law that by definition is evil or wrong. Therefore we postulate that death is part of the natural law and therefore a necessary function of the universe. It is also true that the law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as system's mass cannot change, so quantity cannot be added nor removed. Hence, the quantity of mass is conserved over time.
The law implies that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, or the entities associated with it may be changed in form.
The substance of who my mother was. The energy she expended and the lump sum of her being still exists. It exists in me and all the other countless people whose lives she touched and all the lasting achievements she accomplished. All of it punctuated and given meaning by the transient nature of her existence and the power of my memories of love.
Talk to your mother while you can. Learn everything about her that you can. Find all the things that made her beautiful and unique. You are a monument to all those things and in that she will never truly die.
I wish I spent more time knowing my mother for who she was. I wish she didn’t feel like she had to hide parts of herself from me and I wish I would have pushed to know more, but I am left with that regret and a great lesson about who I want to be. So I will continue to be absolutely honest to myself and others and in that I am secure that she will live with me always.”
Ophelia embraced Edison again. This time he hugged back. She cried for a while and he held her. Edison promised himself he was done crying for his mother, but he didn’t make any assertions about anyone else’s. Life is in the details.
Late one night, Edison had discovered Ophelia openly weeping. Normally, Edison would disregard these episodes. It was not the first time he saw a graduate student openly cry. Yet, Ophelia seemed to have a disciplined mind, dedicated to her work and studies. The work did not seem particularly overwhelming now that Edison had a clear idea of the young woman’s brilliance. That would leave some form of personal problem. Therefore, Edison should not care, but for some reason he did.
Edison went over it in his mind. He had a particular knack for creating a virtual image of a place in his mind. He could then walk through that image almost as if it were a simulation. There was Ophelia and all the equipment she had shoved into the pantry that Edison had taken over as a makeshift lab in his father’s estate. Looking over the papers that were on the table, there were several notes about Henderson’s Disease. Edison recognized the name of the illness. It was similar to ALS, but only targeted those with the X Gene. Now, Edison was truly curious and Edison’s curiosity had a force and will of its own.
The good professor then began to do some research. It didn’t take long to determine that Ophelia’s mother was being treated for the disease. Which meant that Ophelia’s mother was an X and was dying from an incurable disease. Edison considered this for a while. He knew what it was like to lose a parent and how alone he felt afterwards. For all intents and purposes, Ophelia’s mother was dying because she had the X-gene. He felt….odd. Perhaps this is what empathy feels like? Edison did not like it.
The next day the professor decided that he would have a talk with Ophelia. He felt anxious and insecure. Edison makes it a point to not get involved in other people’s personal lives. Yet, everything seems to be a distraction from his work these days. Could it be that his interactions with these other X’s in pursuit of this shadowy anti-x organization made him more open to these kinds of interactions? No, it wasn’t that. It was… That’s it!
“Ophelia, do you have a moment?” Edison walked into the lab and began cleaning his spectacles.
“Of course professor. I was finishing up some of these gene samples for you.” Ophelia rubbed her temples and looked absolutely exhausted.
Edison placed his glasses back on, but took a second to look over them at Ophelia and say, “Are you getting enough rest? It would be unseemly if it were to appear that I am overworking you.”
Ophelia straightened her lab coat and smoothed her hair. “No sir, not at all. I have not been having very restful sleep lately, but I am not overworked. As a matter of fact, I enjoy keeping my mind on this instead of..”
“Your mother?” Edison said casually.
Ophelia seemed startled. “How did you.. I mean I never told you..”
“Pardon my intrusion. I simply saw that you were upset and it posed a bit of a mystery, which is my weakness.” Edison sat down next to her and put his hands flatly on his lap.
“You know, my mother passed when I was quite young. I had never felt so alone. We were close. Close in a way I have never been with anyone else. She understood.” Edison gave Ophelia a meaningful look as if to say “I might understand as well.”
“If you don’t mind me asking sir, how did she pass?” Tears welled up in Ophelia’s eyes. She was trying furiously to control it, almost shaking.
“She took her own life. You see, she was trapped by titanic circumstance and a victim of the same. My mother came from one of the finest families in Britain. A woman of breeding, class, education and distinction of service. Yet, she had great secrets and was therefore unable to live to be her truest self and love in the way she felt she needed to. I was the only one who knew and that was only because I caught her and Miss… she loved… Let’s just say she was different and could not live her life with that difference, was forced to live a cruel lie and so she decided to end it.” Edison stammered as he realized he had never spoken to another human being about this.
At this point Ophelia could not stop the tears. She looked at Edison with a tender compassion he had not seen since his mother died. She leapt at Edison and embraced him with all her strength. Edison could do nothing but stand there paralyzed. He did not like physical contact and was unable to process what was happening.
Edison gently pushed Ophelia away and cleared his throat. “You have my deepest condolences. I have recently realized that you and I have much in common. As such, I thought it would be comforting to know that I have suffered through something similar and have survived it as I am sure you will.
You and I both know thermodynamics and that everything, even the universe itself will eventually fall to entropy. There is no natural law that by definition is evil or wrong. Therefore we postulate that death is part of the natural law and therefore a necessary function of the universe. It is also true that the law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as system's mass cannot change, so quantity cannot be added nor removed. Hence, the quantity of mass is conserved over time.
The law implies that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, or the entities associated with it may be changed in form.
The substance of who my mother was. The energy she expended and the lump sum of her being still exists. It exists in me and all the other countless people whose lives she touched and all the lasting achievements she accomplished. All of it punctuated and given meaning by the transient nature of her existence and the power of my memories of love.
Talk to your mother while you can. Learn everything about her that you can. Find all the things that made her beautiful and unique. You are a monument to all those things and in that she will never truly die.
I wish I spent more time knowing my mother for who she was. I wish she didn’t feel like she had to hide parts of herself from me and I wish I would have pushed to know more, but I am left with that regret and a great lesson about who I want to be. So I will continue to be absolutely honest to myself and others and in that I am secure that she will live with me always.”
Ophelia embraced Edison again. This time he hugged back. She cried for a while and he held her. Edison promised himself he was done crying for his mother, but he didn’t make any assertions about anyone else’s. Life is in the details.