This is a real life story of engineer
John Roebling building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. The
bridge was completed in 1883, after 13 years.
In 1883, a creative engineer named
John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting
New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the
world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the
idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done
before.
Roebling could not ignore the vision
he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew
deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with
someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his
son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be
built.
Working together for the first time,
the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how
the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the
headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to
build their dream bridge.
The project started well, but when it
was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of
John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of
brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk.
“We told them so.” “Crazy men and
their crazy dreams.” “It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”
Everyone had a negative comment to
make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the
only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.
In spite of his
handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to
complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to
inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too
daunted by the task.
As he lay on his bed in his hospital
room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the
flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the
trees outside for just a moment.
It seemed that there was a message
for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one
finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly
developed a code of communication with his wife.
He touched his wife’s arm with that
finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then
he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It
seemed foolish but the project was under way again.
For 13 years Washington tapped out
his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was
finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its
glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his
determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the
engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered
mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and
devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of
her husband and told the engineers what to do.
Perhaps this is one
of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible
physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.
Often when we face obstacles in our
day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others
have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can
be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.
