“Be strong and let your heart take courage” (Psalm 27:14)

We encourage boys to develop resilience. Often resilience begins with being able to see the positive among the negatives.

The great Edison Industries in West Orange, New Jersey, was practically destroyed by fire in 1914. In one night, Thomas Edison lost equipment estimated to be worth ten million dollars. In addition, much of the record of his life’s work went up in flames.

His son Charles, ran frantically about trying to find his father. Eventually he saw him standing gazing at the flames. Charles Edison recorded, “My heart ached for him. He was no longer young and everything was being destroyed.”

Edison said to his son, “Where is your mother? Bring her here. She will never see anything in her like this again as long as she lives!”

The next morning, walking about the charred embers of many of his hopes and dreams, the sixty seven year old Edison said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up! Thank God we can start anew!”

Peter Morphew
Chaplain