What Does It Take To Be Remarkable?
I just read an article about an individual who died suddenly, mid-way through his life expectancy.
His death was eulogized from The Economist to the Hindustan Times. On the sixth day of every month (he died last September 6), an online community gathers to reflect about him. His significant other received some six thousand messages of condolence via email.
He must have been truly remarkable … how many of us will generate 6000 sympathetic emails when we die?
My passing (or Roger’s) might generate one thousand or so, mostly asking … “Why aren’t we getting our Agitator posts anymore?”
No, few of us will be as remarkable as this fellow.
His name was Alex … he was a parrot! Alex was the most linguistically accomplished parrot of all time.
And therein lies the conundrum. Alex’s “remarkableness” evidenced itself over thirty years of nurturing by his scientist-caretaker, Irene Pepperberg. The question remains, does same same potential lie within all parrots, or was Alex one-of-a-kind?
Can we all be remarkable? Or just a few special ones?
Sorry to bother you with this distraction on a Monday morning. But if I’m distracted, you might as well be too.
Tom
P.S. You can read Alex’s story and its fascinating implications in the May 12 issue of The New Yorker.
2 responses to “What Does It Take To Be Remarkable?”
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Alex was chosen randomly by the pet store owner and displayed no special abilities on the day he was chosen. I live with four parrots of different species and I, like most parrot owners, will reassure you that Alex became unique because of Dr Pepperberg’s intensive work with him. Her goal was to demonstrate that all parrots are capable of cognitive thought, a goal which she admirably achieved in several years of meticulously documented trials. However, we remember Alex as the bird who demonstrated that “birdbrain” and “to mindlessly parrot a phrase” are misnomers. Alex showed us that the animal world is capable of thought, a very controversial fact because it implies moral obligations, but entirely logical to those who have objectively observed animal behavior in the wild and in our homes.
Well, this is a walk down a philosophical path…but one I appreciate. I don’t think many of us would be doing what we do if the motivation and meaning weren’t there. Thanks for reminding us of that.
Best,
TW