Thomas Edison: A Tribute. I was having one of those Thomas Edison types of morning. Over the years Ive had not just a few. They surprise me, and almost always they precede something great and wonderful that is about to happen. The suspense is tangible. This one was sparked by my wife, as most sparks in my life are, and I could not ignore it. She was blessedly reading and proofing my new book, ZAP, and came across a section on creativity and the power one person can make. I had made a statement that most great changes in the history of mankind have be instigated by one man, one woman. For good or ill, this has been so. Revolutions and inventions are not usually created by a committee, ad hoc or not. My mind filled up with good thoughts. I wanted to share my love and passion for this man of passion. I turned to Heaven, to the Father of Lights for enlightenment. This is a bit humorous to me, in that I wanted to share a little of what I know about the man who brought light, at least light bulbs to the world. Have you ever thought about man being a lesser light and helping move others along a path of knowledge, perseverance and devotion? Thomas Edison, in his varied experiences led a life to be studied by others. If you are in-the-trenches, if you want to accomplish great things, if you are destined to make the world better, than rub shoulders with the great ones. Feel what they went through, the problems and obstacles they faced and fortify yourself with the knowledge of how they did it. By their fruits ye shall know them. While mere mortals slept, Thomas worked through the night. Sleep now came in fits and starts, a few minutes here and there. Passion robbed him of his sleep, but passion drove him on. Can you imagine with me, now a century later, the vision of a man who could see lighted streets, houses with a warm glow coming from its rooms, and factories running around the clock? I scarce can imagine such a mind. Yet, daily, even every minute I am in a world full of inventions spawned by that man, or can trace their genealogy to the same type of laboratories he labored in. He had many inventions under his belt. He was already changing the world, but the one thing he sought, and the one thing the world will remember him for, was the light bulb. The simple light bulb. Oh, the wonders of what this simple light has wrought. But the brilliance of this light was long in the process of development, and there were no guarantees that it would work. The only guarantee was in the heart and soul of this innovator. The encasement, the vacuum for the light bulb had been figured out. What was now needed was a filament to produce longevity and a brighter light. Attempt after attempt was made to find an element that would transverse the two poles, that would change mere electrical current into, not just heat, but light, and a light that would last more than a few seconds. Over three-thousand nine hundred attempts were made. Wishes, dreams and another element fell by the wayside. Day after day, and year after year Thomas spent hours in the lab, he rarely moved from the bench he had grown to know, and which supported his head in those few moments of respite. Another day, and element, a new experiment. Can you put yourself there, inside his head? Would you give up? Would you look for excuses? Not Thomas Edison. Thomas didnt give up. On his 3,960th attempt, with a new element long overlooked, he tried again. Tungsten. It probably wouldnt work, but he could eliminate another element from his long list of potential filaments. So many attempts, and boxes full of discarded matter, elements, chemicals and alloys. Thousands of these, but tens of thousands of hours. Tungsten shone brightly like others had shone. But . . . This time it kept shining. One minute, two, three minutes, four. It kept shining. The science then turned to length, weight and thickness. But at that time, in that place, it shone brightly. It worked. Years later, when asked how he finally made it? How he was finally successful? What made the difference? And hundreds of other questions from an inquiring and inspiring public, he gave the answer that still finds a soft place in my heart. Said he: I failed my way to success. Many people are not willing to pay this price. Some dont even know that such a price needs paying. They want the prize without paying the price. Oh, there are others to be sure. Others who likewise have blazed new paths, and gone where no man has gone before. To be sure, none of them lived mundane lives. They are involved deeply in that mystical nexus of thought and deed: often mysterious, always magical. Can you imagine these men and women expending their lives this way for money? The thought makes reason stare. Mr. Edison, well pay you an extra $5,000 this year, and hey, well even name a utility company after you, if youll work eight hours of overtime and invent this thing . . . what did you call it? An electric light? No, it didnt happen this way. It happened his way. Your product or your invention is not guaranteed or certain, but the method of getting to completion is. Thomas Edison has set the standard and pioneered the way we can follow. ____________________________________________________ The preceding is an excerpt from Wade Cook’s upcoming book: ZAP: Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Happiness. Contact Mr. Cook at [email protected]. This book is in the final stages of production.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:21:24 +0000
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