Thomas Edison by Michael S.

Did you know that if Thomas Edison adversities got better of him, we may not have the inventions that we may have today and still be in the dark? It is true, many people around the world have various kinds of adversities. Adversity could be powerful to people following a dream. Others use adversity as a challenge and to make themselves stronger. Such a person is Thomas Edison. Some adversity he had include hearing loss, multiple times failing to do an invention, and people did not believe he would do anything.

To begin with, Thomas Edison had hearing loss. In paragraph six of the passage, “The Deafness of Edison,” written by Robert Traynor it is stated, “Edison lost almost all of his hearing.” This source says Edison started to get hearing problems young and growing up he started to lose all his hearing, creating an extreme problem. According to www.gallaudet.edu , in paragraph five it says, “Thomas Edison was deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other, but he thought of his deafness as a blessing in many ways.” In short words, he did not think negatively and started thinking about using his disability in clever ways. The source www.Loc.gov states in paragraph two, “Around the age of 12, Edison lost almost of his hearing of scarlet fever or, as he believed, as the result of an incident which he was grabbed by the ears and lifted onto a moving train.” and in the same paragraph it says, “This didn’t discourage him and he treated it as an asset to allow him concentrate on his experiment and research.” In other words, he got hearing loss because of scarlet fever or what he explained, although he used this to prosper in his career and what he focused on. Edison had a hearing problem, but he used it as a gift, leading him to a bright future.

Additionally, he failed multiple times to make an invention. In paragraph one, in the passage named, “Edison: Adversity and Vision Changed the World” written by Todd Stuart Kaplan he stated, “Many of his designs failed to catch on.” This referred to the fact that he did not start some inventions because of their design. In the text “Failing for Success Thomas Edison” posted on www.IntellectualVentures.com , shows that in paragraph two, “In fact, it sometimes took thousands of attempts-literally- to perfect his experiment." This indicates Edison’s inventions were challenging and took days and multiples attempts just to perfect one of his experiments. In paragraph four of the passage “The Greatest Inventor ‘Thomas Alva Edison’ Vision on Failures” created by Ramkumar N, Thomas Alva tried “two thousand” different materials in search of a filament for the lightbulb” and in the same paragraph seven in the same text it says, “As an inventor, Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the lightbulb.” In brief words, the lightbulb was a complicated invention which required multiple attempts and materials. Edison was a strong and confident guy; he tried his best and never gave up easily even if the invention was difficult to achieve.

Finally, people did not believe he would do anything. In paragraph six of the text “The Deafness of Edison” written by Robert Traynor it is stated “Young Edison’s mind wandered so much he was noted to be a terrible mathematician, unable to focus and had difficulty with word and speech…his teacher Mr. Crawford called him “addled” and said something is wrong with his brain and he would never be able to learn and think.” This showed Edison’s teacher did not expect anything from him and thought he would never be able to learn and think. In the text “But They Did Not Give Up” posted on www.uky.edu, in paragraph seven, Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything “and in the same paragraph and text it’s written, “He was fired from his first two jobs for being non-productive." This shows many teachers of Edison were sure he would not become someone important and admirable; it also shows his bosses thought he would not achieve something important because of his lack of productivity. This shows us many people did not think Edison would achieve something enormous and be someone important—these were harsh words. Edison did not let insults get the best of him; he kept trying and thought positively and being confident in himself. 

To end these thoughts, Edison was a unique man. Even if he had disabilities that affected him, he still managed to overcome them using clever ideas and solutions. In his early life he suffered from hearing loss, multiples time failing when doing an invention, and people didn’t believe him. Edison in his childhood started to lose his hearing, getting worse over time. Many of his inventions needed plenty of hours of work and numerous times he failed to finish them. People thought he would not be capable of doing anything, with his teachers telling him cruel words and his bosses did not trust him. Edison did not let this control him. He always looked forward, never gave up easily, and thought positively, making him an outstanding and determined person.