Psychological Hardiness

When Thomas Edison was seven years old, a school teacher gave him up as a hopeless case. In the boy’s presence, the teacher told an inspector that Edison was “addled” and that it was useless for him to attend school any longer.

Image via Wikipedia

It is remarkable how frequently great men and women are misjudged in such a fashion before they become famous. I once saw on internet bulletin board a list of statements by teachers about their young charges that proved to be more than a little inaccurate:

Abraham Lincoln – “When you consider that Abe has had only four months of school, he is very good with his studies, but he is a daydreamer and asks foolish questions.”

Woodrow Wilson – “Woodrow is a unique member of the class. He is ten years old and is only just beginning to read and write. He shows signs of improving, but you must not set your sights too high for him.”

Albert Einstein – “Albert is a very poor student. He is mentally slow, unsociable, and is always daydreaming. He is spoiling it for the rest of the class. It would be in the best interests of all if he were removed from school at once.”

Amelia Earhart, the pioneer aviator – “I am very concerned about Amelia. She is bright and full of curiosity, but her interest in bugs and other crawling things and her daredevil projects are just not fitting for a young lady. Perhaps we could channel her curiosity into a safe hobby.”

Caruso’s teacher told him that he had no voice. Admiral Byrd was retired from the Navy as “unfit for service.” And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she would “never be able to write anything for popular consumption.”

Image via Wikipedia

Here is the interesting aspect of these biographies: Evidently each person came to realize early in life that authority figures were not the determiners of their destinies. Rather, they themselves were. They discovered that they could, with effort, overcome their adversities and prove such negative predictions to be wrong. That psychologically hardy attitude became their method for dealing with each future challenge.