Went for Pathology class today.. and we were learning about immunological tolerance- why your immune system doesn't turn against you and kills you.. but occasionally things do go haywire and u get autoimmune disease.
And our dear "Farmer John" (yes he lectures us, does research and runs a farm at the same time) told us a story about a banana packer. His name is Niels Jerne..
Niels Jerne was abt 30-40 yrs old and worked as a banana packer in his dad's banana company. Then one day he decided that he should go to uni and get a degree. So he went off to uni to study- but goofed around and got kicked out of university. He went back to banana packing. Whilst packing bananas, he felt sick and tired of it- and wanted to go to uni again. His dad thought- 'oh he only got kicked out once.. just let him try again'. And so he went to uni again. This time, he found the love of his life there at uni- and because girls = time + money,~ladeedaadeedaa~.... he mucked up and got kicked out of uni again. Went back to banana packing. After awhile packing bananas, he felt that he wanted to try for uni again. That time, business was good for his dad's company- so it was ok to spend on uni again. This time he went to uni and he did very well- couple of years later, he won the Nobel Prize for the Clonal Anergy Theory in Immunology..
He was a simple banana packer and a mature age student with so many odds stacked against him.. yet he tried.. only on his 3rd try did he make it and he finally became someone great- from a simple banana packer to a Nobel Laureate. A very inspiring story of a scientist. Whilst scientists will never be rich, totally respected or seen as heroes of the society, they continue to work for the greater good of mankind. Life's not about finding yourself.. its about creating yourself.. writing your pages in the storybook of your life. I must awaken to this.. and write mine. :)
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