Exploring Possibilities: Don't Try To Impress, Try To Inspire!
One time, Thomas Alva Edison, when he was just a little boy, came from school and handed over a letter to his mother, saying that the teacher had given a letter, only to be read by you my mother. His mother opened the letter and after reading the letter she started to cry.
She said, Tommy the teacher has written that Thomas is such a genius that school is too small for him. It hasn't got enough good teachers to train him. So he should no longer come to school and his mother should facilitate his education and train at home.
Years later when his mother passed away, and he became the great inventor we know, he came across that folded paper, in her mother’s home. After reading that paper, he broke down in tears and cried profusely.
What was written in the paper was, Madame your son is an idiot. He is a mentally ill child. We don’t think he will ever be able to make it and match up with other children in the school. We are expelling him from our school with immediate effect. He is not supposed to come to the school anymore.
He wrote another line underneath. He wrote, Thomas was indeed a dunce, a mentally ill child, and he was transformed into the greatest inventor of the century, by his hero, his mother. His mother didn't have a massive personality, a great charisma, but she had the values, integrity and intensity, which created the impact in her son’s life.
Each of you will certainly remember one person, your teacher, your parent, your friend or someone in the world, who made that impact in your life. So be a similar person for others. Create a similar impact in the life of others.
Let us try to understand it further with an analogy of a designer gold plated pen. Understanding this can actually give us truly inspiring lessons in our life. A designer pen has two aspects to it. The outside, which is it’s beautifully golden plated finish , shining and vibrant golden cap encapsulating a super refined nip, which has a fluent flow, and the inside which is the ink, the very substance which gives the color, flavor and defines the purpose of the pen.
Similarly, in our lives too, we have an outside, which includes our looks, our dresses, clothes, our presence. Outside is about our personality, whereas inside is about the person we are, a genuine sincere person. Outside is about the charisma, our style, our presentations, our mannerisms, whereas the inside is about our character, our morals and integrity.
Outside is about the valuables we have, like our cars, our house, our ornaments and inside is about our values. We have to be cognizant that all the focus on the outside, which is necessary, as we live in the material world, should not come at the cost of our inner world. We have to strike a balance between the person we are and the personality we acquire.
This illustrates one important thing that what’s of true importance lies within us. Unless what is within comes out of the pen, it cannot make an impact. Its only when the ink flows through the nib, the pen is able to create an impact on the paper by writing something. Similarly, with us too, unless what is within us comes out, we will not be able to make an impact, neither on our life nor on the lives of others.
Education is actually about bringing out the virtues and qualities of our inner self, our soul. Our personality can impress a person, but being a genuine person can inspire.
A charisma can impress but our character can inspire others. Our valuables can impress but our value that we own and live by, can inspire and motivate others. In order to make an impact we need to live by sacred values and ethics that are the very essence of our core and souls.
So next time you meet people, don’t try to impress them, try to inspire them….I am sure you will explore newer possibilities…..All the best and get going friends…