It
was a cold December night in West Orange, New Jersey. Thomas
Edison's factory was humming with activity. Work was proceeding
on a variety of fronts as the great inventor was trying to turn
more of his dreams into practical realities. Edison's plant,
made of concrete and steel, was deemed "fireproof". As you may
have already guessed, it wasn't!
On
that frigid night in 1914, the sky was lit up by a sensational
blaze that had burst through the plant roof. Edison's 24-year-old
son, Charles, made a frenzied search for his famous inventor-father.
When he finally found him, he was watching the fire. His white
hair was blowing in the wind. His face was illuminated by the
leaping flames. "My heart ached for him," said Charles. "Here
he was, 67 years old, and everything he had worked for was going
up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, 'Charles! Where's your
mother?' When I told him I didn't know, he said, 'Find her! Bring
her here! She'll never see anything like this as long as she
lives.'"
Next
morning, Mr. Edison looked at the ruins of his factory and said
this of his loss: "There's value in disaster. All our mistakes
are burned up. Thank God, we can start anew."
What
a wonderful perspective on things that seem at first to be so
disastrous. A business failure, divorce, personal dream gone
sour . . . whether these things destroy an individual depends
largely on the attitude he or she takes toward them. Sort out
why it happened, and learn something from the blunders. Think
of different approaches that can be taken.
Start
over.
| Authors
Details: Unknown Author |
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