This is a real life story of engineer John Roebling building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roeblingwas inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge. The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk. We told them so. Crazy men and their crazy dreams. Its foolish to chase wild visions. Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. He touched his wifes arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again. For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wifes arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one mans indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never say die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal. Often when we face obstacles in our day to day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 05:17:18 +0000
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