Famous People with Unpromising Beginnings: People Who Defied Superiors' Opinion to Achieve Greatness

Shakespeare once wrote: ' ... some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them...’.

 

History has shown that majority of rich and famous people were not born into fame and fortune; neither was greatness thrust upon them: they achieved greatness by working at being great.

 Everyone is Endowed with Greatness

Every person is endowed with greatness in one field or another. However, this greatness is not always obvious to other people. A great many doubt they have "it" when they consider factors such as hereditary, opportunity or environment; in other cases, acquired skills are not in their favor. Many believe that greatness, however, does not reside in any of these peripheral influences; it resides within oneself.

There are some who, from childhood, understand this, but have been "educated" out of believing it by societal institutions such as parents, schools, professions and religions. Hence most continue to live their lives in quiet despair, content with their ability to just fit in. Every now and then, however, some people come to the realization that they are indeed greater than their current state of being, and subsequently work toward rising above it.

 There is a general tendency for biographers to gloss over the struggles many famous people had coming up; however, a little digging always reveals that many of them had challenges that would have defeated an ordinary person.

The past two centuries saw the likes of Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and Carrie Derick are three extraordinary people who were declared "not good enough" for one reason or another. Despite predictions of failure early in life or at the beginning of their careers, these brave and determined individuals grew up to defy their detractors.

 Albert Einstein's Success Defied Predictions

 According to biographer Walter Isaacson, Albert Einstein was four-years-old before he could speak and was not able to read until he was seven. One of his teachers described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams. “

 Einstein preferred studying alone and was such an under achiever in all subjects other than mathematics and science that even his parents suspected that he might be retarded. Despite it all, Albert Einstein grew up to give the world the special and general theories of relativity. He was also awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905.

 Thomas Edison's Rise to Success

Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors the world has known, had very little formal education as a child. His mother taught him reading, writing and arithmetic at home after a series of debilitating mocking and taunting incidents occurred in a formal school setting.

Edison's teacher deemed him "too stupid" to "ever learn anything." Although young Edison had a severe hearing impairment in both ears, he was a very curious child. He also believed in himself, though this quality was not obvious to his teacher.

Edison's belief in self persisted throughout his life as he grew up to not only invent the first successful electric light bulb, but also set up the first electrical power distribution company. He also invented the phonograph, and made improvements to the telegraph, telephone and motion picture technology. He is accredited with also founding the first modern research laboratory.

Carrie Derick Overcame Discrimination to Achieve Success

 Carrie Derick, whose research papers on heredity have been read by scientists around the world,  suffered an unimaginable discrimination both in her native Canada and abroad. Even after she completed the research required for a PhD, she was not awarded the degree because the University of Bonn, Germany, did not grant PhDs to women at that time.

But Derrick was undeterred and persisted on her studies. Scientists around the world eventually recognized her research papers on heredity; these helped pave the way for the future study of genetics. In 1910 she was one of the few women listed in American Men of Science. She was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Genetics Association, and the Canadian Public Health Association, which were only just opening their membership to women at that time.

 Greatness Depends on One's Thought about Self

 From the aforementioned examples, it obvious that one is almost always "talked out of greatness,"; either by oneself, or others. One can only be a failure after they have succumbed to that assessment and would have given up at this point. Hence, success is not being ahead of others, but it's being ahead of one’s thinking of self.

These examples suggest that it would be a very wise decision to avoid allowing others to define what one is capable of achieving.

 Sources:

Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe, Simon & Schuster Paperback, 2007.

 Martin Woodside. Thomas Edison: The Man Who Lit Up the World, Penguin Group, (USA), 2005.

Gillett, Margaret. We walked very warily: a history of women at McGill, Montreal, Eden Press Women's Publications, 1981.