a kingdom for a stage.

Over a century ago, there was, in the world of science, a race would never be forgotten: the race for flight. 

Now, if you are familiar with this story at all, there are two names that I am sure you have had engrained somewhere in your memories at some point in your life: Wilbur and Orville Wright, the infamous “Wright Brothers” who stamped their names in the history books of human existence by making and documenting the first successful controlled manned flight through the Kill Devil hills of North Carolina in 1903.

Even if you are somewhat oriented with the history of the Wright brothers, I would dare to ask: how familiar are you with the actual race that took place which led these two men to be the first ones in the air? Perhaps you know a lot; or perhaps you know a little. Either way, allow me to provide a brief summary of the people, happenings, and principles that were involved with this competition of propulsion and lift to help us better understand an underlying principle of success.

Although (as we now know) the Wright brothers were the first to succeed in controlled flight, they were definitely not the expected winners of the race—in fact, they were considered very much to be the underdogs. The secretary of the Smithsonian at the time, Samuel Pierpont Langley, was the most prominent competitor. “At age 50, Langley had already achieved prominence through his work as an astronomer, but he wanted to make a discovery on par with Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. So he turned to the problem of flight, spending the 1880s and 1890s [attempting to perfect] an unmanned flying machine he called an aerodrome” (The Race for Flight: NPR, pg. 1).

Langley had, compared to the Wright brothers, significant advantages for achieving his dream of flight; advantages including, but not limited to: experience, up-to-date equipment, and sufficient government funding. Sadly, even with advantageous “wings” for propelled flight, Langley’s aerodrome as well as his dreams fell “like a handful of mortar.”

Wilbur and Orville, on the other hand, were simple inventors, vendors, and forgers of bicycles, which they in turn sold from their humble bicycle store; interestingly enough, it was through their time and energies spent in the bicycle shop that they developed their ideas for flight.

Regardless of not having the best equipment, the sufficient funds, or even the popular support of bystanders, the Wright brothers flew their way into the history books by doing what they could with what they had. On December 17, 1903, they successfully made four flights, the longest lasting a nail-biting 59 seconds and traveling a gut-wrenching 852 feet. Today, thanks to their efforts, hundreds of flights are made, carrying thousands of passengers from one destination to another. It certainly was a race that would never be forgotten.

Vince Lombardi, one of the NFL’s greatest coaches of all time, once said that “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”

 

This is my message to you today: to measure up to who you really are by doing what you can now with what you already have. 

I fear that too often, we, by nature, tend to allow our envious and jealous devils to control our minds, our words, and our actions. These controlling devils, rather than lifting us up to freedom and success, drag us down to low self-esteem and fickle dreams. “If I only I had hair like hers…”, “Maybe if I had more money then I would be able to…”, “I’m not good at speaking in public like he is, so I’ll never win…”, etc. We are constantly focusing on the negative aspect of what we don’t have rather than exhausting ourselves in the great optimism, power, and hope that comes from realizing what we do have. 

The Wright brothers could have easily said, “Langley can afford it; he has the best tools; he has the reporters, the fame, and the wealth. So, why try?” Instead, however, they were inspired by what he had already accomplished and dedicated themselves to use whatever was at their fingertips to go above and beyond any expectations that anyone—including themselves—had set for them. 

Take time to get to know you. Recognize the strengths, talents, and gifts that you have; and then use them to get to where you want to get. If there is something that you’re not good at, work towards making it something else to add to the list of things that you are good at. The attitude with which we approach our obstacles often dictates the outcome that will follow. If you will but intimately learn who you are, see the potential that lies deep within you, and then do what you can with what you have to explore that potential, you will supersede any and all limits that you currently think you have put in place to keep you from succeeding.

In conclusion, I leave you with the words of Shakespeare who so remarkably portrayed this lesson in the prologue of “Henry V”:

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide on man,
And make imaginary puissance;
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

"The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have."

How do you measure up?

Here’s to doing the best that we can,

Cheers.