Inspiring Stories

Most people know that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. What is not widely known, however, is that long before Bell's world-changing invention was announced, a German schoolteacher named Reis almost built the telephone. Mr. Reis' phone could carry the sounds of whistling and humming, but it would not transmit human speech. Something seemed to be missing.

Many years later, Bell discovered Reis' error. The adjustment of one small screw that controlled the electrodes was off by one-thousandth of an inch. When Mr. Bell made this minor modification, he was able to transmit speech loud and clear! This infinitesimal distance-an amount few of us could even calculate-made the difference between success and failure.

Today the telephone is an absolute necessity in every home and business. Few inventions in modern history have had such far-reaching ramifications. Bell Labs and the Bell Telephone System are widely known entities. For want of a minor adjustment, the name we all associate with the telephone could have been Reis.

Don't miss the small adjustments you may need to make on your way to success. And don't give up. Keep pursuing your goal until you succeed!

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The story is told of two boys who went ice skating on a rural pond. One skated beyond the boundaries into the danger zone and fell through the ice. His friend, who was quite a bit younger and smaller, saw him thrash around in the icy water and then disappear under the ice. He began frantically trying to break the ice with his skates and his fists, but it wasn't working.

Then the boy spied a large tree limb at the side of the pond. He ran to it, pulled it to the spot where his friend was trapped under the ice, and amazingly, lifted it over his head and threw it, shattering a hole in the ice so his friend could get air. Then he pulled his friend out of the icy water.

Later, as people marveled at how the smaller boy had been able to lift the huge limb and pull his larger friend from the ice, they asked, "How did you do it?" The older boy who was rescued came up with perhaps the best explanation, "He did it because there was no one there to tell him he couldn't."

When you must ask for advice, always ask someone who wants to succeed as much as you do. Otherwise, you may be better off on your own; that way no one can tell you what you can't do!

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Articles adopted from Panitia Bahasa Inggeris 2008