Power of Vision

This is a real life story of engineer John Roebling building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. The bridge was completed in 1883, after 13 years.

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk.

“We told them so.” “Crazy men and their crazy dreams.” “It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.

In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task.

As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Live Life Young

She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.

“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…”

“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk non-stop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.
As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.”

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.
You have to laugh and find humor every day.
You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.
We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!
There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.
If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.

Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.

At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be .

When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they’ll really enjoy it!

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS
OPTIONAL.

We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.
Have a great life!!!

Live young, live life everyday......

Passion For Dream

This was told by Dr. Rajdeep Manwani  who happened to be Dravid's classmate.

My Respect for RAHUL DRAVID HAS GONE UP BY SEVERAL NOTCHES...

"Rahul Dravid never attended classes regularly. He was always seen practising in the nets. One day he came to class and started writing notes with his  gloves on.We were feeling uncomfortable seeing him writing with the gloves. I don't know how he might have felt. Everyone was  laughing, talking, whispering, Rahul Dravid continued writing for that full hour.
After one hour was over, I and Rahul Dravid had a common friend ,Adarsh,
so he came up to Adarsh and said,
''Adarsh, Can I borrow your accounts notes because exams are  nearing and I haven't written many notes. So can I borrow it and xerox it and give it to you back''
Adarsh replied  ''Rahul ,I'll give you the notes but could you tell me why were you wearing gloves on? You came to class wearing gloves and you continued wearing it, you were wearing the gloves even when the teacher was  dictating notes, Is it to impress Anupama?(Anupama was the most beautiful girl in their class!).
Rahul Dravid said ''No...no ,she is already impressed, I don't have to impress her.''

''Then why did you wear the  gloves through all this time?''I asked

Rahul Dravid said to  me something that day which is very interesting.

He replied ''You know something Adarsh ,the last two Ranji matches which I played, I had the old gloves and the old gloves were very loose. So because the gloves were loose, when the bowler bowled , the ball just went past my gloves and it created the snick sound. The wicket keeper caught it, he appealed and both the times even though I didn't touch the ball, I was given caught behind. I thought to myself ' no this can't continue' and  so ,I bought  these  gloves and I want to get accustomed to wearing these new gloves. I want my hands to sweat into these new gloves .  So for the next 48 hours, I  will wear  these gloves continuously because the next Ranji match which is a semifinal, is in two days. I want my hands to sweat in and get adjusted to the gloves. I am not going to remove the gloves even when I am sleeping,even when I am eating,even when I am coming to class because I want to do well in the next match and I want my hands to be comfortable in those gloves".

The very next match, that was their semifinals against Saurashtra  and he scored a century. In the finals,Karnataka played against Delhi that year, he scored another century and based on those two performances he got selected for the Indian cricket team which went to England, and surprisingly in the first test match in England, he scored 90 odd runs(England vs India, 2nd Test ) when Sourav Ganguly scored century and the rest as they say is history.

There are two important lessons I learnt from that incident.

One,  passion , if you want to excel in anything  in life ,there has to be  a passion, Rahul was willing to wear those gloves for 48 hours whether it was uncomfortable or it was hot. He was sweating in those gloves but he was willing to wear those gloves for 48 hours continuously because he wanted to excel in what he wanted to do and the second important thing was responsibility.
He took responsibility on himself for his own performance, I have never seen Rahul complain a single  time neither did  he argue against any Umpire decision. He never said  for one once  that the wicket keeper is so unethical. He knew that he didn't touch the ball,  even then they  appealed and he got out. He took responsibility for his own life. He had a very strong internal locus of control. Internal locus of control simply means that I will not blame the external circumstances for what is there in my life, I will take responsibility for what is happening in my life. He took responsibility, what can I do to change the situation. Forget the  Umpiring decisions that has gone wrong, forget what wicket keeper has done but what can I do to make the situation better and the only thing I can do is to change my gloves and perform to the best of my ability.