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The misunderstood genius
A misunderstood genius was walking on a plain
not far from a great metropolitan city, at 3 pm while the sun was high in the
sky, and the earth was splitting from drought. He was there because he needed
some time to contemplate in a quiet environment. However; his troubled state
of mind was not cooperating too well with his desire to generate some
fruitful ideas.
He kicked a single cactus that just eyed a little too
bouncy and bubbly for his antagonistic mood. “The nerve of this plant to
stand there so vivacious in such sizzling sun. It should be against the law!”
he grumbled. But the cactus stung him right through his canvas shoe, and the
misunderstood genius uttered a cry from pain.
While rubbing the sore
toes of his right foot with his left hand, the misunderstood genius saw a
middle aged woman in light khaki observing him with a gaze that held the
middle between amusement and mild aggravation.
“Silly man,” the woman
said, “You should have known how the cactus would respond to your foolish
deed.”
“Cactuses can’t talk, woman, and I just didn’t kick it hard
enough, I guess.”
“Oh you kicked hard alright,” said the woman, “But
the cactus was not going to let you get away with your unfounded aggression.
Everything has a message for you, don’t you know? The cactus just told you
that you should never hurt or insult others without expecting the same in
return. So, in fact the
cactus just maintained the golden rule: Don’t do unto
others what you don’t want to be done unto yourself. But tell me, why are you
actually so upset today?”
“Well, not that it’s any of your business,
but my life has not been running very smoothly lately.” Replied the
misunderstood genius. “I just got laid off from my job as a promising
engineer because some character at the other end of the world offered my
company similar service for half the hourly rate. And that happened just
while I was well on my way to developing a new
device at home: a device that
would cut the production costs for my company in half, while shortening the
delivery time with 35%. But I guess it just took a little too long, and the
extent of my luck was just a little too short to achieve my goal before they
let me go.”
“So, what does it take for you to finish the development of
this new device on your own and sell it to either the company you recently
worked for, or another?”
”Hmmm…I hadn’t thought about that. Actually,
it wouldn’t take too much additional effort, since the blueprint is almost
ready.” The misunderstood genius was truly starting to smile again. His
energy noticeably increased, while a gleam replaced the dimness that had been
in his eyes just a moment ago. “In fact, I am pretty sure that I will get an
opportunity to present my plan if it is well constructed and comprehensive
enough. They never ignore
proposals that can possibly result in capital
generation and efficiency increase. And I believe that the very fact that I
am providing the company that recently let me go with this primer instead of
vindictively offering it to their main competitor, may create a different
dimension in our relationship.”
“Wise thinking!” replied the woman,
“You are not repaying good with evil. Your genius is on the
rise!”
Just as sudden as the woman had appeared, was she gone again. But
the misunderstood genius felt reenergized, hurried home, finished the
blueprint, settled his copyright issues, and made an appointment with the
top management of the company he had been working for during the preceding
4 years. Within three weeks he gave a spectacular presentation, and became
a
very prestigious consultant for the company, making ten times more
money than he used to as an employee.
But the financial prosperity was
not the most important improvement in the genius’ life. Even more essential
to him was the dignity that he regained by learning to perceive himself as an
equal partner with the company he was once just working for. This newly
gained dignity spawned tremendous inspiration within the genius, and device
after sophisticated device he developed, not only for the company he was now
advising, but also for others in- and outside the industry where he used to
work. His quest to develop elicited a new curiosity within him, and he
started approaching organizations far outside the borders of his country as
well.
One day, while he was daydreaming in his small, but
state-of-the-art workplace that he had built annex to his house, the
middle-aged woman in khaki appeared. “Congratulations, my friend, you did
it!” she said smilingly. “Now let’s see, what have you gained in the past few
months? You became an independent worker: your own boss, and you feel good
about this
responsibility. In fact, you feel so good about it that your
creative juices have been triggered and have flowed richly since then. You
have established connections with companies in countries located in at least
3 continents of
the world. You are about to do some nice traveling in the
near future, and will make yourself familiar with the world “out there”. Your
Rolodex looks good: it has at least 17 new names in it. You became
multi-facetted. You see yourself as an organization nowadays, and not as the
victimized worker you used to be. Heck, you have even been contemplating to
write a technical
guide for your line of expertise! You simply took the
challenge that was placed on your path by that “overseas character” that
stole your job, and transformed it into an opportunity for yourself. You
learned from his example, and really got yourself going! And throughout this
entire mental crash course you took, you also learned about self-respect,
respect for others, the essence of familiarity with various cultures, and the
overall
importance of being proactive. But do you know the main message that
life conferred to you in the past months?”
The genius didn’t even have
to think about that one: “I have learned that there is a misunderstood genius
in all of us, and that we have a choice: We can either dwell on the
aggravation of being neglected or misunderstood, and make the world an
increasingly worse place for ourselves and all others around us, or we can
change our attitude and find other ways to earn
recognition for our genius.
The secret lies in searching, persevering, and daring.”
The woman in
khaki winked and disappeared…and the genius woke up from his refreshing
afternoon nap….
Joan Marques, Ed.D.
Burbank, May 18,
2004
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About the
Author:
Joan Marques emigrated from Suriname, South America, to California,
U.S., in 1998. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, a Master’s
in
Business Administration, and is currently a university instructor
in Business and Management in Burbank, California. You may visit her web
sites at http://www.joanmarques.com
and
http://www.spiritcounts.com
Joan's
manual "Feel Good About Yourself," a six part series to get you over the
bumps in life and onto success, can be purchased and downloaded at:
http://www.non-books.com/FeelGoodSeries.html
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