From Letters of Note, Albert Einstein’s response to a question about the treatment of intellectuals in the McCarthy years:
You have asked me what I thought about your articles concerning the situation of the scientists in America. Instead of trying to analyze the problem I may express my feeling in a short remark:And plumbers responded.
If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.
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I had to see how the plumbers responded---so fun! Some even sent Einstein plumbing tools. :)
“I had to see”: that’s what I hoped someone would think.
Having a professor and a plumber in the same essay reminded me of John Gardner's quote, from his book Excellence, where he pointed out that a pure meritocracy would be unbearable, and so society has to balance.
Anyways, here are his words from that book:
The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."
That’s a great observation. As the son of a tile man, I have deep respect for all forms of labor and the intelligence they require, at least if they’re done properly.
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