Alexander Graham Bell could have been discouraged at the fact that his mother could hardly hear but instead he looked for ways to communicate. He let the tones from his vocal chords vibrate on her forehead, believing she would better be able to hear.
In further pursuits of the study of voice and sound, he did not allow his inability to read in German stop him from trying to understand a thesis written by German physicist Hermann Von Helmholtz, On The Sensations of Tone. Because of a mistake in translation, he thought the paper suggested vowel sounds could travel over wires. That turned out to be a valuable mistake that furthered his discoveries. How many times do we stumble on sudden breakthroughs in forward motion- breakthroughs that never would have come had we refrained from our pursuits?
Bell also like many experienced personal tragedy in life, losing both brothers to tuberculosis and also battled the disease himself. Rather than becoming discouraged and discontinuing pursuits, he used the down time for recovery in mind and spirit.
Alexander Graham Bell's story is one of a tenacity that wouldn't quit. His story is one of building blocks of knowledge, one placed upon another. His story is one of accidental discoveries in a lifetime of pursuit. His story is one of success that could have been failure, a success that ultimately came due to his refusal to stop thinking, stop dreaming and stop moving forward!
SOURCE: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/am
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