Short Story on Hold=More Musings

Fun Fact: After having successfully flown their airplane at Kill Devil Hills in 1903, the Wright Brothers continued their flying tests in Dayton, Ohio until they achieved what they deemed sustainable flight.  They accomplished this feat in 1905 and from that point on quite flying until they had secured their patents for a heavier than air, powered, controlled, manned flying apparatus (in essence). 

True Story: The Wright Brothers were no dumbski-s! They knew that the airplane was a great business opportunity, and didn't intend at all on letting the financial possibilities slip away. Paranoid that their invention would get stolen or copied, the Wright Brothers refused to provide demonstration flights for potential customers (Governments and armies across the globe) until they had signed a contract to purchase their product. 

How awesome would it be to invent a product that you could make a government sign a contract to purchase it without ever having seen it work.  Now take that and multiply it by about 431297213 because of how revolutionary the airplane has been to the world.  No big deal, the Wright Brothers were essentially self taught engineers, one with a high school a diploma and one without, and built bicycles for a living.

Now admittedly, I'm slightly obsessed with the Wright Brothers because of working as an interpreter on the subject for a year, being a nerd for all things airplanes, and my niche for Imperial American history.  It's incredible though that such everyday people from a Midwest city were able to influence the course of human events in manner hardly imaginable 25 years before their time.  This came to mind because I recently stumbled upon (not so much physically tripped and almost fell, but while using the StumbleUpon) quotes from Charles Bukowski. Now everything that I have gathered (with reputable research done through wikipedia and Amazon's biography sections on book reviews) about this individual is this: he had a terrible childhood and grew up to be a drunk that wrote poems, short stories, and novels about the average man. Think of him as a modern Pieter Bruegel (the Elder, that is). No, doesn't do much for ya? Well here, this is a quote attributed to him from this website I was shown:

"That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen." A selection cited from his work Women.

I say that may just be one of the most brilliant things ever realized. If you're not sold yet, how about this:

We are 
Born like this 
Into this 
Into these carefully mad wars 
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness 
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other 
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings 
Born into this 
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die 
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty 
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed 
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes

Having read that got me thinking about the capability which each of us have to make an impact. The latent good that we have often goes unnoticed, or questioned heavily when we consider it's appearance.  So I pose this challenge for one day: Do all of those things you were taught to do as kid (yes, I'm talking about using manners and acting on common human decency).  Random acts of kindness were popular for awhile, but I'm not asking you to do any such thing. I'm challenging you to treat people like people for one day to see the reactions you receive.  Go out to eat, go buy groceries, or do whatever it is you need to do in a day.  When you go to check out, ask they cashier how their day has gone.  When asked by a customer service employ about how you're doing, answer their question; say thank you; and return the favor.

Common courtesy has been lost in a day and age when we are immensely tied into our personal lives by appointments, jobs, smart phones, etc.  I ask that you try this challenge to see how you can impact one persons day on a small but personal level.

Thanks for being patient everyone! Hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends, family, and loved ones.  Special shout out to those of my family that I didn't get to see this year at Thanksgiving: Love ya Aunts Jan and Jill, Bryan and Justin.  Hope you're doing well!