Monday, June 04, 2012

A Success Story

After drinking the potion, the maid fell to the ground, unconscious. The six-year-old boy looked at her in disappointment. He did not expect this. He had made the potion by grinding different insects. The whole idea was that since birds could fly after eating insects, there must be something in the insects. Instead of making the maid fly, he nearly caused her death. And as usual he was beaten by his parents. This was not the first time. A little while ago, he had lit the whole timber warehouse on fire to see what happen to wood after burning!



His teachers considered him as a dull and mischievous student because he had no interest in syllabus. On the contrary, he would always ask questions from the teachers about almost everything, and consequently, he was expelled from the school. He was taught by his mother at home until the age of 15 when he started peddling goods in trains. At the time, it was prohibited but his daily insistence compelled the authorities to accede. It was a four-and-a-half hour journey and he thought of utilizing this time. He started to collect news from different stations, handwrote them and set as a newspaper. 


It was a wonderful experience as a one man newspaper!
Once while travelling, his foot slipped and he almost fell from the train only to be saved by a guard who caught him by his ear and in the process he lost half of his hearing power. He set up a small lab in one of the train cars and did his little experiments there until it caught fired. As a result there was a huge blast and he was punished and fired. He started job in a telegraph office. At that time one telegram could be received at a time but he introduced the method of sending and receiving multiple messages at a time by changing the system. After a short time he left and started job at a firm in New York, which was responsible for determining price of gold. He invented a modern calculation machine for them.


He started his own factory and built a lab for his research. He invented an automatic telegram, rectified the system of typewriter, made receiver for telephone along improving its sound quality. Today, CD and DVD is the media for almost everything. The ancestor of this, the gramophone was invented by him. And if that was not enough, he went on to invent cinema!


He invented trams, the road train. He introduced electronic street lights in New York from where it spread around the world. And, not to mention, he invented the electric bulb as well. He introduced cement for construction. Money counting machine, mining techniques, dyeing of leather are only a few of his inventions. He also grew the Rubber plant in America for the 1st time.


He made 20 thousand failed experiments before he could invent the bulb. He made 10 thousand experiments in order to successfully store electricity in battery. And with having about one thousand inventions to his name, the number of failed experiments runs into hundreds of thousands. But he never lost hope and that was what kept him above all others who failed. He was so obsessed with work that once he expressed his desire that had he been born on Mars, he would have had 40 extra minutes a day and would have contributed more.



I wish our educationists would include the biography of this great man to our national curriculum. Our children will learn that how one single person can bring change by his determination and strong commitment. They will realize that failure is not failure indeed but it is the 1st step to success. You can never be successful in life if you do not face failures. It will surely inspire our youth to know about the life and struggle of the greatest inventor in human history, Thomas Edison.



49 comments:

  1. Failure is an important aspect of innovation. Quality and quantity of attempts decide how good the final product might be. But still, we admonish children for petty failures without figuring out what else they are good at. Not everyone is good for a clerk job in a Govt or a software industry, right? :)

    Destination Infinity

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    1. yup failure is the way to explore the best product........... parents and teachers should accept the reality that everyone has individual differences..... thanks 4 reanging n leaving ur openion it means a lot 4 us keep visiting plz....

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  2. imagine!

    i think about how adverse most of us are to failure. we protect ourselves from trying.

    i work with kids from hard lives, and i know that one asset praised and supported, just one, takes away self defeat.

    i knew you were writing about thomas edison. i wonder what he would think of today's inventors.

    love
    kj

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    1. u r rigt kids need praise and support............ thanks for liking keep visiting our blog

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  3. wow! dats mighty inspirational. n i nevr even knew anythin beyond d light bulb to his contribution :o

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    1. i m happy u learnt somthing new through this post nd got inspired........... thanks for liking dear

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  4. Had a bad taste in the mouth after reading about the insects. But from then on it was a lovely read. I didn't know most of this. Truly inspirational. :)

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    1. i think might be changed after reading it....p its good u ispired by this great man's work........ thanks for reading n liking

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  5. Yes, he was a true visionary, and failures actually made him try harder. Definitely not a quitter

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    1. i think u already knew most of things about Edison.....thank u read nd left comment here, keep visiting ur opinion means a lot for us...:)

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  6. Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thanks, However I am encountering problems
    with your RSS. I don’t know why I can't subscribe to it. Is there anybody having identical RSS issues? Anybody who knows the solution can you kindly respond? Thanks!!
    Also visit my web blog : Palabras De Amor

    ReplyDelete
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    1. De Amor thanks for liking.....:) welcome...... i dont know the solution, Israr may guide u about issues.... i l visit ur blog as well but plz dont mind the irregularty bcz i m not having internet most of time......... i l visit ur blog after summer vacations regularly..... keep visiting our blog

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  7. Instead of admonishing children for failures, maybe we should encourage them to explore further. I wonder if parents are deliberately thwarting innovation in kids?

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    1. Es i m totally agree with u we should encourge childerns rather than punishing them....... thank for reading it.......:)

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  8. Fascinating - and instructive, too, if there's anyone in authority with the nous to learn.

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    1. Dave 1st of all i have to say sorry 4 being too much late in replying but u know i rarly have access to internet, i think u l never mind it.... thanks 4 giving such praise for my little effort....... keep supporting........:)

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  9. My friend,
    Great message here. In fact, tell that little boy to stay in school (lol). Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Andy little boys always run from school.........lolz thanks for liking

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  10. Thanks for visiting my blog! And I totally agree. Failure is not failure!

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    1. Zeebs welcome, i think israr visited ur blog...p thanks 4 visiting here.......:)

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  11. The opening paragraph makes me LOL! The boy had a scientific mind and that was proven on what he did later. Are you like him? :p

    I really enjoy reading this very inspiring write-up. Once failed isn't a failure forever, right? It's the determination, the will and commitment that play a major role towards success. It's through failures that we're able to do better.

    As usual, you're hilarious! May be you can become a comedian. :p

    Thumbs-up! :)

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    1. wow u guessed from the begining what was going to be discussed..........:) yup i liked him..P thanks u enjoyed and gave ur valuable opinion.......... Balqis dear Israr is a cmedion by birth....P keep visiting dear

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  12. Very inspirational story - thank you!

    Anna :o]

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    1. welccme, i m delighted that u got inspired..........:) thanks 4 encouraging me, it will realy help me to write something in future... keep visiting.

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  13. Setting a house on fire? Woah. But yes, this is very inspiring :)

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    1. thanks dear u liked my little effort.....:)

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  14. Replies
    1. Shah u r most welcome.......... plz keep visiting our blog, it will give us more inspiration.... thanks

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  15. He was saved by gaurd who caught him by his ear and so on....lol

    Very nice post after so long time.:)

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    1. Bashart Ali u r right i wrote something after a long long time but i m realy thankful to u people who didnt forget me and still here to support me.......... thakns for liking... keep supporting in future as welll...:)

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  16. Beautiful you have great blog .

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    1. Dawood thanks for liking, keep visiting....

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  17. welcome back kiran after a long long break..i think this is your first post in 2012?

    anyways very inspiring and informative post... i knew of the bulb and maybe the moving picture camera but not the other stories...thanks for sharing his childhood stories and his hardwork and initial hardships of life....

    keep writing and sharing :)

    best of luck...

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    1. Israr i m realy obliged that u always supported me, i had never gon anywhere but there were some problems..... i m happy u were unaware about something atleast.....p i l keep on my struggle if u l b here to help me....:) real credit goes to u....

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  18. i tagged you. i tagged you. i tagged you.

    im running outa time so just a quick reminder.

    check my blog.

    take care dude!

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    1. Ridx bundle of thanks u visited our blog we l keep visiting ur blog.....:)

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  19. This is a great post and thoroughly inspiring! As to your answer about wanting to go to Peru is not only because I think it is beautiful there but also because I want to expand my knowledge about other cultures around the world =)

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    1. Suki i m delighted on such an inspirational praise....:) thanks for liking.. plz keep on supporting in future as well

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  20. Omg! Who has the patience to bear 20000 failed experiments ajkal...

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    1. Fatima ajkal to everyone wants a shortcut yar....D thaks for reading this article

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  21. really very interesting post i didnt knew ths info before.
    Self determination towards our goals always leads to success all we need to be patient.
    Paulo coelho in hs novel The Alchemist states the same concept i.e 'when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to acheive it'
    thankyou for shairing.
    Looking forward to see more posts in future.
    Best wishes.

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    1. Maria dear thanks u always encouraged me to write and afterall i did this..... i m happy that there was something new to learn.... i didnt read the novel thanks for sharing about that.... i l write more In Sha ALLAH

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  22. failures are not to mourn but to learn...
    they r stepping stones :)

    lovely read !!!

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    1. thanks for reading and liking Mishra....:)

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  23. my all friends
    i m sorry for being too much late in replying as i wasnt having internet facility, i hope u people will never mind and l support me next time as well... thanks all of u

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  24. It is yet another example of the fact that cramming children for exams isn't the only way to give them an education. Luckily great people like this have the spark inside them, and will overcome obstacles. Do you know that when JS Bach, the composer, was ten years old, he was living with his brother (as he was orphaned). His family were all musicians and his big brother had some music which he would not let JS Bach touch. Every night the little boy would get up, sneak into the room where the music was kept, and copy out a page, so he could read it to himself and learn from it. He copied out nearly the whole score until one day his brother caught him and tore it all up. It did not discourage JS. He had that little spark inside him too.

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  25. Jenny u r right yup exm r not the only way of eductn sm people's minds r far beynd 4m such hurdls they cure things thorugh their own way. Thanks 4 readng n liking

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  26. postingan yang bagus tentang A Success Story

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