My hero

I have a new hero. Well, I've held this man in high esteem for some time, but the admiration has escalated over the past few years.

Normally I'm not prone to hero worship.

First off, the word hero is over used. I'm sorry, but just because you put on a uniform doesn't mean your a hero. Second, I prefer my heroes with a cape or tights or psychic abilities. At the very least, they should be quick with a quip. Few real people can pull any of these off.

But lately I've been learning a lot about Leonardo da Vinci. Due in part to Dan Brown there seems to be a resurgence in the quintessential renaissance man's popularity. This has made it much easier to learn about the man from Vinci.

He was smart, but kind of lazy. He started untold numbers of projects - paintings, designs, inventions, etc. - but seldom finished any of them. He would work on them until they ceased to be a challenge and then move on to something else. This tended to piss off the people who had hired him.

He also came from "unsavory" beginnings: he was a bastard. In Italy of his time, this meant he had no formal education. So, he kind of shunned the inteligista and forged his own path. In general, he found the authorities lacking and figured things out on his own without all that book learnin'.

Lazy, no respect for authority, but damn smart. My hero.