Have you ever felt like life has given you one big-fat F? Has your life been marked by one mistake after another? If so, then this post is for you! You may take comfort in knowing that many things in life that began as “mistakes” later became multi-billion, if not $trillion dollar industries. Take a look –
Introducing the microwave oven, something that was discovered completely by mistake. An engineer named Percy Spencer while working for Raytheon was working on a radar related project when he discovered that low-density microwave energy was responsible for melting a candy bar in his pocket. Raytheon later patented his accidental discovery and the microwave oven was born. Though it would take decades before it was adopted into most American households. The very first microwave oven built was as large as a refrigerator and very costly. Now, if you’ve received a ticket for speeding lately, you can thank Percy for that also, as Police radar bounces microwaves off your car to measure the speed at which you’re driving… Oops! You still liking Percy? 🙂
How about sticky notes? Same thing, a chemist working for 3M was trying to develop a new glue but the concoction he created was too weak to hold much, it was essentially a failed experiment. He was about to throw the glue out when someone found an application for this very weak glue and sticky notes were born! And who hasn’t used sticky notes in the home or office? This same theme has happened in the world of pharmaceuticals. The way I understand it, several drugs developed to treat something completely unrelated are sometimes very effective for treating another ailment. And we have yet more unintended results. Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are being touted by many for being very effective in the treament of Covid. These two drugs were developed 90 years earlier to eliminate malaria transmitted by mosquitoes.
The list goes on and on for unintended applications of things in this life. How about all the contributions made to society and mankind by people who were essentially unplanned [pregnancies]? That number would be unknown and certainly immeasurable. I would say to you in my most humble voice/opinion – keep making mistakes my friend… the whole world is waiting to turn your mistakes into Triumph! 😉
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I failed the First Grade! And still laugh about it sometimes, not because I didn’t deserve it, I did. It’s just that life has a funny way of reconciling things, events. Albert Einstein failed a couple grades during his grade school years. What does that say? It says something – I’m not sure what it says, but something was “said” by those attempting to teach him, his teachers. Yet he grows up to become probably the most relevant scientific figure of the 20th century. Several Einstein theories have still yet to be disproved… never going to happen. The man was solid in his findings.
The respect I have for Einstein is beyond that I find in most humans because toward the end of his life, and after all his many accomplishments, he stated that there’s no way all we see and witness in this life could possibly have been built by man, a higher power most suredly was involved. Now that’s humility, and genius combined! 🙂