The problem with genius in plastic surgery or in any scientific field is that it goes largely unrecognized by the general public. Even contemporaries overlook genius due to jealousy or similar human interest or self preservation. Plastic surgery is a seemingly accessible field to the masses, because everyone can have an opinion about one’s external appearance without knowing the first detail about how a surgery is done or how a result is created.
The realization of genius requires understanding or cognition that something spectacular is being done. However, people are largely unspectacular by their very nature. If Tom Brady throws a game-winning touchdown, people will talk about this for years and catalogue it in the annals of human history. However, if a plastic surgeon revolutionizes a type of surgery by impeccable execution or implementation of paradigm shift ahead of his or her time, this will not register on anyone’s radar. Certainly, this is a function of society’s warped value system that praises and elevates athletes and entertainers above all else. Perhaps, it is a decay in the morality of society that now looks upon doctors with contempt rather than respect. Maybe it is also a function of the fact that these triumphs are poorly understood and inaccessible despite plastic surgery being a part of mainstream knowledge.
What makes something genius above that of the ordinary or mundane? Only those with the most sophisticated knowledge and understanding in a field can even speculate as to the answer to the question. Everyone else has an opinion and is entitled to offer one, but it is an opinion without standing or substance.
Everyday, we, as a society, look at successful people with disdain and those with money with contempt. We revel in seeing people fall from grace. Why is it so hard to acknowledge greatness when it is present? Everyone makes such an effort not to offend anyone for anything, but very little is done to recognize those individuals truly worthy of praise. We should embrace genius so that it does not stagnate or burn out.
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