I’m very conscious of over 60,000 Leaving Cert students, as we move towards results time. Huge emphasis can be placed on the number of points received and the various college courses that will be offered. It can indeed be a time of enormous anxiety, placed on young shoulders. The points system fundamentally fails to recognize the complete human person. A very worrying statistic are the thousands of students who drop out of third level every year, precisely because of this reality, third level is also a very costly experience that seriously excludes those financially not resourced. Young people’s talents, gifts and future are truly immeasurable. I remind them also of how cherished and loved they are by their family and friends. Perhaps the following short biography of three inspirational lives might offer hope at this time.
Thomas Edison
Have you ever felt discouraged just because you failed, maybe once or twice? Did others you stupid just because you can’t answer a simple math problem? Got fired from your job? Well, you’re not alone! Sir Thomas Edison isn’t as intelligent as you thought he was. In fact, during his early days, even his teachers told him that he’s “too dumb to learn anything and there’s no hope for him.” He even stopped his formal education at the age of 12. Not only that, but he also failed more or less a thousand times with his inventions.
Likewise, he even got fired from his first two jobs — after leaking acid on to his boss’ desk, but he didn’t give up and he didn’t let those failures drag him down. Instead, he ignored those criticisms and despite being almost penniless, he turned out to be the most successful inventor of his generation. Having a great influence from motion picture cameras to creating the light bulb.
Come to think of it, if he did give up, you’ll probably be using candles up to now.
One of his famous quotes is, “Every wrong attempt discarded, is another step forward.”
Harland David Sanders (Colonel Sanders)
If you’re one of those people who uses the excuse, “I’m too old, there’s no way I can be successful anymore.” Think again. It’s never too late for success. A great example of this would be, Colonel Sanders. If you’re not familiar who this guy is, he’s just the founder of the ever-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). One of the biggest fast-food corporations worldwide. Though, it wasn’t an instant success. Colonel Harland Sanders started his dream at 65 years old. For most, this would be the time to retire and enjoy the remaining years of their lives. However, Colonel Sanders turned this the other way around.
After getting his retirement benefits, he used his first social security check, amounting to one hundred and five dollars, to start a business (once again) — the start of his journey. Most people would complain after receiving this amount. Not him, though. He believed that restaurant owners would love his original fried chicken recipe and he’d get a small percentage once the sales increase.
It wasn’t an easy job. He drove around Kentucky, knocking on every door, sleeping inside his car, and to look formal, he always wore his signature white suit.
Steve Jobs
Say, are you a college dropout? Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple didn’t get his college diploma either, but this didn’t stop him from dreaming big. He even took his greatest failures and transformed them into his greatest success.
At a young age of 19, Steve Jobs, together with his friend Dan Kottke decided to drop out of Reed College and moved to India instead. What’s their reason? To find Philosophical Enlightenment. A stage of Jobs’ life where he learned the power of intuition– something that greatly influenced his works.
He was a visionary perfectionist that most people think highly of him during his early years. However, at the age of 30, his own company (Apple Inc.) decided to fire him. Can you imagine the company you’ve built from scratch, turning his back against you, leaving you humiliated, depressed, and most importantly, unemployed? Well, Steve Jobs tried to overcome that and he succeeded. 11 years after Apple decided to fire him, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. A time where Microsoft was soaring high. Being the brain behind Apple Inc., the company was desperate and crawled back to Steve Jobs — asking if he could consider coming back. Basically, he took this offer and made Apple one of the most leading pioneers when it comes to new gadgets and technologies.