This is Too Hard!

Today at lunch a group of kids came by my office wanting to, "do some science." I am always happy to see kids wanting to learn so I gave them some kits I have been building to help some of our students learn about electricity. The first part of the project was to make a bulb light up by making a simple circuit. They all got that figured out pretty quickly so I gave them the next challenge which was to use their new knowledge of circuits to build a simple machine. After about 2 minutes these particular kids started asking for help. Not specific questions, just for help to build the machine. I gave a few general hints to get them started but wanted them to think things out for themselves so didn't give too much away. About 2 minutes later one of them said, "Mr. Taylor, can we do something different? This is too hard."

Now I can understand being frustrated because something is hard to figure out but that's pretty much how the world works. Thomas Edison, the subject of this week's Friday Morning Science, tried over 1,000 different materials before he succeeded in making an electric light bulb that worked the way he wanted it to. He could easily have given up because it was too hard but who knows what that might have meant for the world!

Dr. Seuss, one of our best known authors, tried to sell his first book to over a dozen different publishers and was rejected every time before he finally got his first book published. If he had given up he would never have become a famous author and we would never have heard of The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham!

Even Abraham Lincoln, one of the most famous presidents of all time lost almost every election he entered before becoming president. If he had given up the United States would be a very different place!

In science, and in life, it is important not to give up just because something is hard. If everything were easy, life would be pretty boring. Most things that are really worth doing are hard and take effort. Just imagine the kind of effort it must have taken for scientists to figure out everything they needed to do to send people into outer space for the first time. The kind of lives we have are often determined by how much we are willing to try.

Check out the video below of Winston Churchill, the leader of England during World War II, talking about what he thought about giving up and remember science, and life, are best when you have a challenge to work on. Don't give up too easily!