We Do Not
Conform
Wallace
Carothers, you have probably never heard of him. Who was he and what did he do for you? I’ll tell you in a moment. He was born in 1896 and died at the age of 41
by drinking a cocktail of cyanide and lemon juice. He was an incredibly gifted chemist that two
years before his death invented nylon.
He suffered bouts of depression his entire life (probably bi-polar) and
killed himself seven months before the birth of his daughter Jane. As with many gifted people he never saw the
applications of his work and how his discoveries would change the world. Every time you put on a pair of panty hose
you have Dr. Carothers to thank.
Nikola
Tesla, a tremendously gifted inventor never saw the commercial applications of
his inventions and as a result was continuously taken advantage of and died
penniless. He was the inventor of the alternating current. Everytime you flick a light switch and a light
bulb lights you have Nikola Tesla to thank.
Even
Eastman Kodak, so famous I don’t have to provide an explanation, left a suicide
note that read, “To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?”
Bi-polar, probably.
How
can I be expected to achieve any more than these great men and the countless
more just like them that provide for the everyday comforts I enjoy.
The
list goes on and on, living and dead:
Bill
Gates
Steve
Jobs
Mark
Zuckerberg
Etc.
What
is it that makes them different?
How
is it that they see a fourth side in something when everyone sees only three?
We
see this spanning all the Arts, writing, singing, drawing, the entire
spectrum. We see the greatness and the
sadness in all the “Greats”, most notably the suicides. Depression?
Definitely. Undiagnosed bi-polar,
most likely.
I
believe but cannot prove that there is a direct correlation between being
bi-polar and unintentionally achieving greatness. It’s just a theory.
In
closing I just want to quote one of my greatest heroes of all time, Army Officer
Nathan Hale, born in Coventry Connecticut in 1755. When asked by the British Army if he had
anything to say right before being hung, he stated, “I only regret that I have
but one life to give for my country.”
“I
wish I had done more with mine.”
- ---- ----Raymond Tucker (Poet & Essayist)
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