Apparently Stephen Hawking is fortunate to have acquired the disease “ALS” at an early age. This is one of the factors which has contributed to him living over 50 years since the diagnosis. It’s also the variable nature of the disease and he’s lucky that he has a form of the disease that appears to have stabilised. Only a very small number of sufferers of the disease are lucky enough to have the variation of ALS that he has.

Lucky too that he’s got such a big brain.

I thoroughly recommend his books. They’re challenging reads and for me, not being a scientist, turn the impossible into the manageable.

You can learn about Hawking’s life too, in the movie The Theory of Everything.  Eddie Redmayne was awarded the Oscar for Best Actor this week, and he does put on a pretty impressive performance. Hawking liked it too.

There’s a lot of luck in what makes us what and who we are. Some people say that we can make our luck too. Whether that’s true or not, we can certainly make the circumstances around us that shape our lives, using what we have.

Stephen Hawking had the most extraordinary back luck as a 21 year old to contract such a debilitating disease. It’s trite to say he has made an enormous difference, and continues to do so, in our understanding of the very meaning of our existence. We’re lucky to have him I reckon .

He uses his luck of a fine intellect and the good luck that went with the rotten luck in the disease to the maximum effect for himself and all of us.

I count myself as pretty lucky. But I do wonder whether I use all the luck that comes my way to the maximum effect.

Stephen