Maverick

Folks known as mavericks aren’t always popular. Unorthodox, non-conformist, and independent-minded, they refuse to go along with the mainstream mindset (often mislabeled as conventional wisdom). Unlike dead fish following a stream’s flow, becoming nothing more than tasty repasts for vultures, mavericks swim upstream in a constant struggle to seek new truths and disprove old ones, with little regard for those who may be offended by their efforts.

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I’m a maverick, and I encourage my students to become mavericks. I urge them not to accept anything at face value and to identify their position on an issue by defining what would be the prevailing position’s opposite point of view. By doing so, they have two choices, not just the one touted by those who accept without dispute attitudes and opinions such as those manufactured by the media, which often lead to disillusionment, dismay and even destruction — not unlike lemmings mindlessly following their leaders in mass migrations, only to risk drowning in the sea. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein must have been a maverick of the first order. As a student, he often espoused views diametrically opposed to those set forth by his superiors, and was able to refute their views with facts and logical thinking. One story about him illustrates his maverick prowess. A university professor once asked, “Is everything that exists created by God?” To his surprise, Einstein, a member of the class, answered, “Yes, sir.” Using syllogistic, fallacious tactics similar to those often used in academe, the professor — determined to expose Christian faith as myth — answered, “If you are right, then God created evil, which we know exists. In my mind, this makes God evil.” Then Einstein asked, “Professor, does cold exist?” Assuming an arrogant pose, the teacher peered down from his lectern and said, “Of course!” “No, it doesn’t,” replied the student. “Cold is merely the absence of heat, as confirmed by the laws of physics. The word cold merely describes how humans feel when deprived of heat.” Gathering momentum, Einstein asked, “Professor, does darkness exist?” Again the teacher nodded affirmatively. “You are wrong, sir. In reality, darkness is the absence of light, which can be studied and measured, while darkness cannot. Can we measure how dark a certain space is? Darkness is just a convenient term used to describe a space that contains no light.” Einstein then returned to the professor’s assumption that evil exists and that God is evil because He created it. Faithful to his premise, the professor referred to man’s inhumanity to man. “Sir, the student replied, “Just as cold is the absence of heat and darkness is absence of light, evil is the absence of God, and in that sense is merely a word mankind created to describe the Creator’s absence. The truth is, evil manifests itself in people whose hearts are devoid of God’s love.” Speechless, defenseless, and flabbergasted, the professor, whose name was forgotten long ago, left the room. The student’s name, Einstein, will always be remembered: He was a maverick.