Edison's perserverance

"Thomas Edison devoted ten years and all of his money to developing the nickle alkaline storage battery at a time when he was almost penniless. Through that period of time, his record and film production company was supporting the storage battery effort. Then one night the terrifying cry of "Fire!" echoed through the film plant. Spontaneous combustion had ignited some chemicals. Within moments all of the packing compounds, celluloids for records, film, and other flammable goods had gone up in flames. Fire companies from eight towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the fire hoses had no effect. Edison was sixty-seven years of old- no age to begin anew. His daughter was frantic, wondering if he was safe, if his spirit was broken, how he would handle a crisis such as this at his age. She saw him running toward her. He spoke first. He said, "Where's your mother? Go get her. Tell her to get her friends. They'll never see another fire like this as long as they live." At five-thirty the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, "We're rebuilding." One man was told to lease all the machine shops in the area, another to obtain a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad Company. Then, almost as an afterthought, Edison asked, "Oh by the way. Anybody know where we can get some money?"

* Virtually everything we now recognize as a Thomas Edison contribution to our lives came after that disaster.
* This reminds me of a quote by Martha Washington where she said
" I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances."

My mother is a great example to me, who has taught me all growing up that "everything in life can be taken as a positive experience."
- One example I thought of was riding a bicycle. I don't know how it was for you, but I clearly remember how many times I fell down as my mom pushed me across the front lawn my first time without training wheels. With all of my screaming she kept on pushing me along. Time after time I fell down, but she continued to work with me until I finally could do it myself.
After 16 years I can still ride a bicycle, and I have learned to pick myself up when I fall. :) Nothing really becomes a part of our lives until it becomes a matter of experience, and experience involves trial and error.