When young
Thomas Edison's mother first took him to school, she was told that he was not
yet ready for it and that he needed to wait a little longer. His mother
responded that she knew her child, and was convinced that he would be
successful.
Sometimes
later, the teachers reinforced the school's original assessment when they
reported that he was indeed not bright enough to succeed. The boy, however,
went on to become the second most prolific inventor in the world, with the
electric light bulb, phonograph, the microphone, talking movies, the storage
battery, and a thousand other inventions to his credit!
As an adult,
Edison suffered exceptionally hard times financially but refused to surrender.
In one of them, his unfruitful experiments with nickel-iron-alkaline storage
battery, a ten year project almost made him bankrupt but he trudged along. In
another, on a freezing December evening in 1914, a fire spread throughout his
entire plant. Five companies from eight neighbouring towns could do nothing to extinguish the
fire, due to low water pressure and the intensity of the fire itself. In the
process, the entire plant was destroyed.
Edison, however,
sent his son to fetch his mother and some friends, telling them to come and
watch as they would never see such an amazing fire again. His spirit was not
broken!
The next
morning, he announced to his employers: '' we are going to rebuild the plant.
We can always make capital out of a disaster. We have just cleared out a bunch
of rubbish-we will build a bigger and better on the ruins!''
Did he
achieve that goal? You bet!
Optimism is
not bestowed on chosen few. Self fulfilling prophecy is powerful. When things aren’t
going as you plan, or the tide of times flow against your current and sweep you
upon a strange Island, why yell when you can build a beautiful new world upon
it?
The youths of my time, the sage of my
generation, watch what you say and watch your temperament. Optimism cures
nothing but self-fulfilling prophecy is unforgiving. Your negative words hurt
not just you, but your nation, your community and your progenies.
We have many challenges facing is,
personally and nationally, but we must never buckle and bow our heads in
hopelessness. We must never be so desperate that we do desperate things. Crimes, destruction, curses, negativity and
hopelessness will only aggravate the situation. It is time to wear our think
caps and work with positivism as we build
You are unstoppable; so long you are determined
to keep going.
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