No bird soars in a calm

In 1897, the Washington Post boldly announced, "It is a fact that man can't fly." Apparently, someone forgot to tell that to Wilbur and Orville Wright.

In 1900, Wilbur glided 300 feet over the dunes of Kitty Hawk on North Carolina's Outer Banks in a glider he and his brother had designed. Three years and many attempts later, Orville flew in a powered plane for 12 seconds. It wasn't long before they were in the air flying for miles, and the Wright brothers had become the unlikely inventors of the world's first successful aircraft.

Wilbur and Orville were talented mechanics who owned a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, and they funded their efforts with its proceeds. They "had no college education, no formal technical training, no experience working with anyone other than themselves, no friends in high places, no financial backers, no government subsidies, and little money of their own." But they knew how to work, they worked well together, and they were comfortable making slow and steady progress. And because of that, they changed the world.

In honoring their accomplishment, it's easy to forget the hundreds of failures that preceded it. In fact, it was those failures that made human flight possible, because they inspired Wilbur and Orville to rethink, tinker, and rebuild their flying machines. The work wasn't glamorous. On their ventures to Kitty Hawk they slept in tents and faced mosquito infestations, hurricanes, and blistering heat. They worked in quiet seclusion, and even their successes were ignored by the press at first. 

Their story holds some valuable lessons for anyone who dreams, who faces challenges, or who labors at worthwhile work that seems difficult or even impossible. First of all, don't be disheartened by those who say it cannot be done; most of life's meaningful achievements come as a great surprise to the doubtful. And don't be discouraged when defeats and failures start piling up; quite often it is the adverse wind that gives us just the right amount of lift we need. Or, to use the eloquent words of Wilbur Wright, "No bird soars in a calm." 

Lloyd Newell