Death according to Lazarus...

From Barbara, Washington D.C.
January 3, 1943

Dear Sir,

For quite a while I have admired you. I have started to write before many times, only to tear the letter into bits. For you are such a brilliant person & from what I have learned you have always been so. I am just an average twelve year old girl in the room 7A at Eliot Junior High School.

Most of the girls in my room have heroes whom they write fan mail to. You and my uncle, who is in the Coast Guard, are my heroes.

I am a little below average in mathematics. I have to work longer in it than most of my friends. I worry (perhaps too much), although in the end I imagine it will all work out for the best.

One evening while our small family group was listening to the Radio Readers Digest I heard the brief story of an eight year old girl and yourself. I told my mother of my desire to write you. She said "Yes" and perhaps that you would answer. Oh, sir, I do hope that you will write. My name and address is below.

Sincerely yours,
Barbara


To Barbara Washington D.C.
January 7 1943

Dear Barbara,

I was very pleased with your kind letter. Until now I never dreamed to be something like a hero. But since you have given me the nomination I feel that I am one. It's like a man must feel who has been elected by the people as President of the United States.

Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.

Sincerely yours,
Professor Albert Einstein
~Taken from the book Dear Professor Einstein, Edited by Alice Caprice

It is all a matter of perspecitve...never get down on yourself for not being good at something, for there will always be someone who is worse at it than you; likewise never get a big ego about being really good at something, for there is always someone who is better at it than you...
~Tiggersgirl