NOBLE BE MAN, compassionate, and good....johann wolfgang von goethe (1749-1832), widely considered the most intelligent person who ever lived, according to retro active measurements of intelligence, might not have been the most intelligent person ever. He probably wasn't.
Whoever was most likely died young, and was never known beyond his immediate family and circle of friends. Nor was the person necessarily male, nor necessarily lived in the western hemisphere.
Suffice to assert that goethe displayed more wisdom in writing than anyone of whom we are aware since joshua ben joseph, who doesn't count, because he never wrote anything on paper which endured.
Let us pause for a moment of silence and perplexity at the lack of any primary source proof of the wisdom of jesus of nazareth (which of course was not the name he called himself) and socrates (which he seems to have called himself) of athens.
socrates and joshua (jesus) made questionable comments. The former advocated submmission to tyranny, and the latter encouraged knowledge of self. "know thyself? If I knew myself I would probably run away", argued goethe. goethe had a better sense of humor than either of the other two.
Telling the truth about the current condition of humanity leaves one open to accusations of negativity. And yet the negative sounding truth need not altogether obscure the nobility, the goodness, and the compassion.
During the three weeks I spent digging through the rubble of my tornado ravaged home town, with tens of thousands of other americans, these sublime qualities were on display daily. People from every corner of the country came to town with chainsaws, bottled water, and toilet paper.
By the time we finished moving millions of tons of rubble, the 5k, 10k, and half marathon fund raising runs became an expedient for the weight we needed to lose. The volunteers from afar brought too many cheeseburgers, and we were getting fat...noble be man, compassionate, and good.
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