A few months ago I did a speech at a State Tournament on the story of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb.

At least that’s what I thought.

About a week after I presented my speech, the judges submitted their notes on every students’ speech as a way for us to expand our skills.

Out of the three separate submissions, one stood out to me in particular.

He spent the entirety of his feedback saying how much he loved my speech and how it sounded ‘motivational.’ But the final sentence is what threw me for a loop. . .

“Everyone knows Nikola Tesla was the inventor of the lightbulb, not Thomas Edison. Make sure you’re presenting factual statements.”

Well f*ck me then.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware of Nikola Tesla, but I never really knew about his story until recently.

Turns out Tesla invented the lightbulb over 10 years before Edison presented his own version.

So why does Edison tend to get all the credit for inventing the lightbulb in modern education?

Well if you want to get technical, Tesla invented a lightbulb that relied on AC (alternating current), while Edison created a bulb that pulled power from DC (direct current).

Eventually, it was determined that bulbs powered by direct current was more efficient than their AC counterparts.

But even though Tesla’s invention didn’t make the cut, he still played a huge role in the invention of the lightbulb.

And surprisingly, the lightbulb wasn’t the only thing he invented and received no credit for:

• Tesla had the original patents related to radio transmission only to lose them to a man named Marconi who would go on to receive the Nobel Prize.

• Tesla was the first one to discover X-ray technology, but Wilhelm Röntgen eventually published similar findings to win the Nobel Prize a few years later in 1901.

• Tesla experimented with wireless communication which went on to become a foundation to modern inventions like Wi-Fi and wireless charging to only lose his credit to a project company named Wardenclyffe Tower.

Just to name a few.

So what happened again?

Well put simply, he didn’t raise his hand.

A lot of these other inventors published their findings to scientific journals and advertised them to the public immediately after they discovered them.

Tesla never cared to take credit for them, he just wanted to advance the wellbeing of the world.

He wasn’t in it for the applause.

He was in for those around him.

And that’s what the cardinal virtue of Justice is all about.

Marcus Aurelius mentions how foolish it is to expect something in return for doing something good.

He says, “A man who’s done good doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but goes on to the next good deed, as a vine goes on to bear grapes again in its season. That’s the goal to aim for, to be one of these men oneself, who do good without noticing it.”

And I’m not saying you shouldn’t accept a ‘thank you’ or a pat on the back, but it’s those who go looking for it are the ones will ill-intentions.

Why else would they say kindness is the greatest gift?

Just do good deeds because you’re capable of being a good person.

Not because you want to be viewed as one.

In others words,

Stop raising your hand. And start giving one.

Until next time,
Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I’m Currently Reading - Today, I began to read one of Abraham Lincoln’s biographies titled Lincoln by David Herbert. Coming in at around 700 pages, this one might take me a while.

Quote Of The Week - “He who saves one person saves the world” — Talmud (You might not be saving the whole world, but you’re certainly saving theirs)