Inventors and discoverers wanted!

All my life I've been fascinated by inventors and their inventions, explorers and where they explore, and people who make discoveries and what they discover.

This week I read about Chester Greenfield, who in 1877 patented ear mufflers. He had large ears and loved to ice skate, so had his grandmother help him with his idea to keep his ears warm. He was a teenager at the time. The factory he started produces 400,000 ear muffs per year! He secured over 100 patents before his death in 1937. This sure impressed me. I'm sure that thousands of people have prevented frostbite and been thankful to keep their ears warm from just one of his patents! He made a real and big difference even though he isn't as well-known as people like Thomas Edison and Ben Franklin.

Everything in this world that is not a living thing has been created by someone somehow. For me that is a profound thought. It is this resourcefulness that helps human beings survive and thrive. When someone sees a need and then uses their ingenuity to figure out a way to create a solution, everyone benefits.

What is really interesting is to see how progress evolves. Think of all the solutions you know that were thought up to address just one issue - how people around the world could communicate with one another. What came to mind for me immediately were: the printing press, the postal system,
telegraph, camera, Braille, sign language, television, radio, ham radio, Morse code, World Wide web, internet, telephone, and cell phone. I'm sure there are several that I didn't even recall.

Try playing a game with your family at the dinner table today. Pick any issue at all, and then have everyone come up with solutions either already available or ideas on how to solve the challenge you mentioned. You could use the one I listed above, talk about all the forms of transportation that have been invented, solutions for the environment, or something you think up. This could be both a lot of fun and informative. This is a great educational activity for all ages, and helps keep your mind healthy too.

There are so many challenges that people, animals, and nature still face that there is plenty of opportunity for more people to come up with new ideas, inventions, and solutions as well as to improve on what is already known.

Discoveries in the world of medicine help with prevention, treatment, and cures. Processes to find natural resources easier or lessen our energy consumption ,such as cars that get more mpg and light bulbs that burn longer using less electricity, make a real difference.

Explorers who risked their lives and faced great peril and hardships helped humans in numerous ways. They passed on information about such things as flora, flauna, climate, topography, and much more. Today's explorers study things such as the heavens, the rain forest, underneath the ocean, DNA, and bacteria.

If you have any inclination and natural talent in any of these areas I mentioned, I implore you to follow your passion. You are wanted, needed, and will be appreciated for your work. Do not listen to those naysayers who would like to bring you down and steal your dream out from under you. Parents, encourage your children in whatever area that they are interested in. Don't choose for them.

Although I'm quite curious by nature, I have never done anything that would allow me to call myself an inventor,discoverer, or explorer like those I have read about. I'm writing this post because there are is only a small percentage of the population who leans towards doing this types of work either as their life's work or as a serious hobby. We need to encourage those people who have the passion and aptitude. I've seen many children, teenagers, young adults, and even older adults teased and discouraged for having ideas that could solve a problem. It is not silly to follow through with what you are led to do.

One of the things I'd invent if I had the know-how is a self-cleaning toilet using natural cleaner whenever you flush. I know that would make a real difference in bathrooms all over the world. I remember
many years ago watching Art Linkletter on his television show chat with children. He asked several children if they could invent anything, what would it be? Most of the kids didn't have a very good answer being asked that on the spur of the moment, but one child quickly answered with much enthusiasm " a roll of toilet paper that never ends." This child showed definite signs of potential to being a world problem-solver. You may have laughed, just like I did when I heard the little boy say that, but it's people like him who could help solve major problems like cleaning up pollution, or even cure the common cold! What would you like to see invented?

Thanks for reading and reflecting on my posts. Make your difference today in your own way!