A fierce lightning storm was ripping through the night sky outside the home in which Nikola Tesla was born around midnight, between July 9 and July 10, 1856, in what is now Croatia.
Midway through the birth, they say, the midwife nervously clinched her hands and declared the lightning a bad omen.
“This child will be a child of darkness,” said the midwife.
“No. He will be a child of light,” Nikola Tesla’s mother replied.
‘Mother knows best’ is a saying we’re all familiar with. (Who doesn’t have a few gems from their mom rolling around in their head?)
Maybe you buy the wisdom of the ‘mother knows best’ saying. Maybe you don’t.
But the wisdom of Nikola Tesla’s mom, Đuka Tesla, was spot on, because Nikola Tesla, with his inventions, fundamentally improved our civilization not long after moving to the US in 1884.
Case in point: Today, you are able to turn on your indoor lights (one of the nicknames historians gave to Tesla was the “Master of Lightning”), your computer, or charge your smartphone thanks to Nikola Tesla’s inventions.
Make no mistake: Tesla didn’t invent electricity. Instead, he invented how electricity can be harnessed and distributed. (Before Tesla popularized it, most folks weren’t even really aware of electricity’s existence, or its potential.)
“That’s funny,” you might say, “because electricity was already here, no?”
Yes: electricity was already here. But we hadn’t woken up to it. Tesla not only woke us up to it, but he also helped us put it to use.
Takeaway: Progress is available.
The question is not, “Do the things and opportunities to move your life forward exist?” Because they do. The question is, are you ready to be woken up to them?
p.s. If you’ve never heard of Nikola Tesla, that’s understandable. He was uber humble. You can start learning about this remarkable person by Googling him.
Or, you can take our 2¢ and start by reading an awesome article by the one and only Oatmeal: Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived.
p.s.s. If you’re a fan of Tesla cars, start here.