Making a difference
One man can make a huge difference in the world. Take Elon Musk as an example. He is known for his Tesla electric automobiles, but he does much more than manufacture fancy cars. He also developed SpaceX.
SpaceX is a rocket manufacturer. Also known as Space Exploration Technologies, it was founded by Elon Musk. SpaceX has developed a reusable rocket launch system to significantly reduce the cost of space flight. His reusable rockets return after launch to land tail-first, standing upright, ready to lift off again.
This month two SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets each lofted 60 more Starlink internet relay satellites into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX has now launched 835 Starlink satellites. It will eventually have thousands of broadband beacons in orbit, delivering high-speed internet access everywhere. Elon Musk is one man who thinks outside the box.
Another individual who has made a huge global impact is Jeff Bezos. He founded Amazon. I recall when his business kept growing but it wasn’t making any profit. All the proceeds kept being plowed back into expanding its enterprise. Look at it now. Like Fred Smith who founded Federal Express, Jeff Bezos took an impossible idea and made it happen.
Big thinkers grasp new concepts in ways that ordinary people do not.
They invest capital, develop their plan, recruit good talent, and potentially make huge profits. They are possibility thinkers. Their name becomes famous and their business becomes a household word. This has been the case going back to Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and the Rockefellers.
Thinking new thoughts, embracing “what if” scenarios, seeing the possibilities that others have overlooked… this kind of creativity can enrich our lives. It takes brave men or women with a certain type of courage to say, “Why not?” and attempt something never before accomplished. I can remember when President John F. Kennedy made the promise to put a man on the moon. America did it. Heroes rode rockets, took a giant leap for mankind, and returned safely.
I remember when Ronald Reagan dared to declare that the Soviet Union was an “Evil Empire.” In Berlin he challenged Premier Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall!” He did the unthinkable and it worked. He reduced the threat of nuclear war and, with lowered oil prices and his fictional Star Wars, Reagan bankrupted Russia. He was one man who dared to see things differently and he made a huge difference.
In the United States, we have one man in high office who arrived at his place of leadership by coming at it differently. He didn’t try to be a politician going up stair-steps of political power: local, state, and national. Instead he went for the top prize in one giant leap, from billionaire to President. The last man who tried that was another smart businessman, Ross Perot of Texas, but he failed in his bid.
It is notable to me that this particular President, Donald Trump, having arrived in office beholding to no one, has done a peculiar thing that other presidents could not do. He has kept us out of any new wars. Eisenhower had warned us about the “Industrial Military-Complex” and its enormous influence on our politicians. Trump has resisted that influence and kept us at peace. In fact, he has had several more Arab nations make peace with Israel and has begun bringing U.S. troops home from our longest war in Afghanistan.
Like Lincoln who could imagine America’s slaves being free, and Reagan who could imagine the threat of Russia being eliminated, Trump has imagined us without war.