We’ve all been impacted by Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb.
He was an epitome of persistence with this quotation:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Imagine that. 10,000 failures before his success. Not many of us would have the determination and patience to persevere for that long!
This is even more amazing when you find out the backstory.
Edison was sent home from school one day, with a sealed letter for his mother to read.
Edison’s mother asked why he’d come home and he handed her the letter.
She opened it up and started to cry. He looked up questioning. She told him ‘Your son is a genius, this school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.’
Edison smiled and was given strength as his mother made it her mission to encourage and teach her child.
This boy grew up to be a giant in British history with his inventions that we are still impacted by today.
It was many years later, after his great success that he found that letter in a drawer, smiling as he remembered his mother, he pulled it out and started to read.
To his shock and dismay the words weren’t the ones his mother had read to him.
These were the words that were on the paper:
‘Your son is mentally deficient. We cannot let him attend our school anymore. He is expelled.‘
Edison cried for hours remembering what had happened that day and wrote in his diary:
‘Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally deficient child whose mother turned him into the genius of the century.’
Some sources say this is a fictional interpretation and not fully true. Although Edison was labelled as mentally ill, an event that led to his mother removing him from school and educating him herself, some sources say that statement was not written in a letter as has been portrayed. It says it was given to him by a school administrator which led to his mother angrily removing him from the school.
Letter or no letter, Edison’s mother had a life changing impact upon her son.
What would have been the story if his mother had agreed and enforced the words about him being mentally deficient? Maybe a very different story.
How sobering to think about the power of our words.
You can see the interpretation of the story here:
Today, let’s remember how Edison’s mother turned her son’s life around with her words and likewise let us speak words that bring life!
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Love Anna
