... I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK." A particularly endearing Thomas Edison Quote.
There's absolutely no use to tell anyone who this dude is. If you don't know Thomas Alva Edison, you must be losing a little spark somewhere. He had very little formal education but he had a persistent curious nature that had led him to discover and invent breakthroughs in science that greatly influences human lives to date. His verbal skills were quite slow as he started talking only until he was almost 4 years of age, but he had an insatiable desire to search for the answers to his highly fertile mind. We would probably categorize him these days as borderline autistic and/or even ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and prescribe some Ritalin. Enable or disable him with drugs until he becomes completely useless and cast him off in society as a total "weirdo". He would live a solitary life, lose all of his friends, his chances for a decent career. Meanwhile, the rest of the world would probably still be living in the dark ages.
Except, back then, his one and true faithful supporter was his mother who believed that somewhere in that rather odd and unusual demeanour lies a brilliant mind.
Now, just because "Inventors" were typical of the 19th century, what has made humanity so cynical and jaded in the 21st century to throw a judging and suspicious eye on anyone who tries to run against the mainstream and not flow with the norms? What has made society these days isolate the "geniuses" into a sweeping category like "nerds" and "geeks" or even in worst case scenarios, "unfit and unwanted" based on prevailing societal standards? What the hell happened?
I am not saying that back in those days there weren't any segregation or discrimination, there were probably worst conditions more than I would know. However, the likes of Edison and other influential people of the early centuries that have become world famous for defying the norms, characteristically withstood the mundane pressure and persevered their causes. The persistence and tenaciousness of Edison in the face of failures and unimaginable heckling has made his name synonymous to the world's best self-taught inventor.
Meanwhile, the rest of us humans of the 21st century, gloat and bask in our ascribed limitless knowledge of the universe; whine at the slightest discomfort and inconvenience; mock anyone who stands out against the norm; label people into classes such as failures, idiots, losers, morons or all of the above; completely lose our sense of dignity by believing we are superior above all the garbage we have idolized and icon-ized.
We just lost it.
Our sense of curiosity; exploration; trying and failing; defying common rules that are generally wrong; standing up for our uniqueness and truly respecting diversity. Believing in something, or someone, or a cause that is far greater than the universe itself. We have succumbed to self-love and a generation that believes that the best world view is from our own individual perspective.
Admit it. we did. Yes we have become more tolerant of gender preferences, religious and even political views; but have we embraced terms that we did not create?
Have we stood defiant and persisted on an idea in spite of possible ridicule and standing out from the crowd?
Do we respect "brilliance" that is not ours or from our kind?
If it is not in Wikipedia, do we know where to search for answers?
Have we accepted that failure is a necessary evil to further stretch ourselves or do we even know what is to "stretch" when everything else we need can be accessed by our fingertips?
Have we found 10,000 ways that won't work, or did we even try?
