It was the 1870's. Somewhere in a workshop in New Jersey, Thomas
Alva Edison was burning the midnight oil, trying to create a
light bulb. He tried several experiments - all without success.
He just couldn't get it right. His failures became the talk of
the town and the story goes that after he had failed for the
500th time, a journalist interviewed him and asked him, "Mr.
Edison, how does it feel to have failed 500 times? Why don't you
just give up?" "No, no, young lady," replied Edison. "I haven't
failed 500 times. I have just discovered 500 ways it won't work.
I am so much closer now to finding a way that will work!" And
sure enough, in 1879, Edison invented the filament light bulb,
an invention that changed the world. By the time he died, the
'man-who-failed-500-times' had 1024 patents to his credit, and
had founded the iconic General Electric company. But Edison's
real contribution to mankind went beyond all this. He showed us
the power of perseverance, the virtue of learning from your
failures, and the m