Starting Over: Edison's Fire

I like to begin this episode by activating conjuring a memory within you a memory that you can relate to that not only you can mentally identify with, but emotionally identify with you and I were in the world, we are engaged in projects be that from an educational perspective, writing a paper 20 page report or in work, work projects that take our company forward and allow them to achieve some of the things that they have set forth. And even within our own personal life, we have projects that are either hobbies or contribute to the cultivation of who we are projects abound, call it what you want I to have projects and in the process of bringing these projects which usually represent the culmination of ideas, insight and expertise executed into a a physical thing, either a report or a painting a you name it, we are part of the process that brings it forth.

And invariably, sometimes, once in a blue moon, these kind of outlier experiences happen where something happens that shakes it up and wipes the slate clean. As a designer, I’ve experienced this I’ve been working in Photoshop or any other application and all of a sudden my computer crashes. And I sit to myself and I’m looking at the screen and I’m turning it back on hoping that the work that I had done up to that point is not lost. That lost feeling when the rug is taken under, out from under your feet. When you can no longer access the great work that you’ve worked on up to that point. And you’re thinking to yourself, Man, I have to start over. When you’re beating yourself up and say Man, I wish I would have backed it up.

I wish I would have saved it. Now this story imagine multiplying Saying that feeling by 10,000. And this is what happened to Thomas Alva Edison. Before I, before I jump into the story, I definitely want to pay homage to this individual, this great inventor. From a young age, she serves as a symbol of possibility. I remember being young and we worked on a play. I was in the fifth grade, it was 1980 something right? And we had singing parts. And there’s just this one phrase, and it sticks with me, even to this day. It said, [He sings the lines from the song.]

And so Edison served as a model early on, when I learned that he didn’t like school, when I’ve learned that he taught himself all that he knew, when I learned that he did it his way, that he wasn’t trying to live up to the conventional ways that people approach science. It was that nine convention that allowed him to open his mind into a way that allowed all that great technology, the great invention to be brought to this world that we’ve benefited even to this day, it can easily be said that he shifted the direction of our civilization. So I tell that story to lead up to this. It was a it was a December, it was December 9, bam. I tell that story to prepare you for this.

It was a December 9 evening, in 1914. Thomas Edison was 67 years old. And he got a call. He got a call that building number 41 was on fire. And so he goes out there and he’s told that there is nothing the fire fighters could do to subdue the flame, it was going to have to go out itself, it was going to have to burn itself out. Now, we’re talking, Thomas Edison. And his research like this is not a hobbyist in a shack in their backyard, working on a little project. This is the man who, who, who created the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, his research that could still push society forward, goes up in flames. And his responses is really priceless. He says, hey, you need to get Myrna my wife and gather around some of her friends, because I guarantee you that they’ll never see a fire like this in their lives.

Again, a very calm response to a heck of a challenge and a heck of a problem. What’s admirable, is a quote, that he’s on the record, as having said, which is one of the primary points for this episode. He said, there is value in disaster. All of our mistakes burned up to and thank God that we can start anew. Without going to historical or mythological. There is a purification process to fire. The Greeks borrowing from the Egyptians had their Phoenix and the Egyptians before that, had there been a new bird where it could only be reborn through the process of fire itself. And so fire in the story of Edison was a cleansing agent. It was a an agent used to wipe the slate clean, and to begin to reinvigorate to focus to act as the catalyzing agent for the next chapter of his great story.

In the face of adversity in the face of circumstances that are right in front of your face, that really do not read FLETC the intentions that you hold with in how do you keep a level head? How do you not continue to stir that pot? How do you stay balanced? How do you stay focused on where you’re going over what may be going on. That is what I most admire about the story of Thomas Edison, that he understood that, hey, we got to wipe the slate new, we have to start over from here. And we still have the desire, the ambition and determination to continue achieving our goals. But this is not going to be a roadblock that simply prevents us from moving forward, this is not going to be a stumbling block or a stone that trips us up, we can use it as a launchpad to jump even higher, because he had over 10,000 individuals working for him at that time.

So while it may be a setback, how can I make this into a set up. So listening to his response of the mistakes burning up to, and this is the opportunity to start fresh, even at the age of 67. You know, it gives me a sense of strength, it gives me a sense of, of purpose and in what I do, even in the face of compelling evidence, that may look like things may not be working out, because one thing that I know that Edison knew is that the flame cannot take away who you are, the flame cannot take away the experiences gathered to create those resources that were in there. The experiments that were already in process, that knowledge does not evaporate, or get burned up in the process as well.

So we are the sum total of the knowledge and experiences that we are going through. And no matter what you cannot take this from me the preferences, the decisions, the conclusions that were met, in those experiments that went up and flame cannot be taken, the fortitude to continue, cannot be taken. Those are things things come and go. We are the experiencer of things, we go on this journey through the things and come out on the other side, a lot stronger, a lot wiser, with a lot more experience than which would otherwise be capable without these experiences. So the way that history continue to unfold for Thomas Edison, is that he continued to make inventions, he continued to be an entrepreneur. And if you live in a New York area, and you use Con Ed, that is a direct byproduct of his legacy.

If you’ve used anything from GE General Electric, that is a byproduct of his legacy, that he did not let go in the face of that really strong in your face adversity. So, how do we grow from some of the shortcomings or life experiences that are least preferred? We can we can still complain, which will be totally valid. It happened to you it happened to him, it happens to us and you can even say it happened to me or can you let what has happened inspire something that otherwise may not have been possible? Otherwise, you know, you have the phrase, the silver lining, how do we look for the silver lining opportunities and the experiences that we may be going through? Can we realize the nuggets the jewels, the precious stones of of life that are put in our hands, but by focusing in on the negativity or focusing in on the muck and mire and focusing in on those least preferred things doesn’t give rise to that greatness that is sometimes standing there hidden in a really less obvious place.

So, this Thomas Edison story has happened to each of us, you and I, what has our response been? Have we even considered this an option? And going forward? Can this be an option? Can you just embrace where you are? Stop fighting against what is and embrace who you’ve become. There’s people counting on you, even if it’s only for yourself and your community. There’s a family.