Al was the third of his parents’ eight
offspring. A sickly child, he couldn’t attend
school, and it wasn’t until he was nine years old that his family could afford
private tutors. He proved to be an eager
student, though, and developed into a competent chemist by the age of 16. His father was a businessman and an inventor,
which helped fuel Al’s keen sense of curiosity. He loved to learn and taught himself five
languages! He also figured out how to
live with adversity. Several of his
father's businesses went bankrupt, but all Al saw was that his dad kept trying
and never gave up.
By his early twenties, Al’s fascination with
physics and chemistry had led him to start tinkering with his own
inventions. His father owned a mine, and
Al started experimenting to find new and more efficient ways to blast through
rock. He initially tried gunpowder, but it
was too unpredictable. Nitroglycerine
had recently been discovered, and even though it was extremely dangerous to produce,
Al built a factory to manufacture it while searching for a safer way to
detonate the explosive. It was more dangerous
than anyone realized. One day, a freak
explosion at the factory killed several people, including Al's younger brother.
Al was devastated, but became even more
determined to create a safer way to detonate the Nitroglycerine. After several years, he experienced a
breakthrough, leading to his invention of dynamite and the blasting cap. His product was much safer, and resulted in immediate
benefits to companies working on tunnels, canals, dams and other construction
projects. Al opened up 90 factories
worldwide, and soon became very wealthy as a mass producer of dynamite. What troubled him, however, was that various government
entities were buying his dynamite to arm their military forces. It happened so quickly that Al decided the
only way to keep the peace was to make his dynamite available to opposing
nations as well. He believed that, if
both sides owned dynamite, neither would use it against the other. He was wrong.
Later in his life, a strange series of events
took place. When his older brother
passed away, the newspapers mistakenly thought it was Al who had died, and they
ran his obituary instead of his brother's, with the papers referring to Al as, “The
Merchant of Death." Al was actually
a pacifist, so of course this troubled him, and he decided to do something
about it.
A few years later, Al passed away, and his
family was surprised to learn that he had created a secret will. He died a wealthy man, but had left very
specific instructions. Nearly all of his
money was to be used to create something entirely unique in the world. It took a few years to get it into place, but
eventually the wish of Alfred Nobel, the so-called "Merchant of Death,"
was fulfilled: his fortune became the
basis for the most prestigious awards the world had ever seen, with annual
international prizes bestowed in recognition of cultural and scientific
advances in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, Literature, and, of
course, Peace.
For more than 100 years, the Nobel Peace
Prize has recognized individuals and organizations that are true catalysts for
furthering peace and goodwill among humankind.
Recipients have included Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, the
Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter.
And few people remember that Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite,
since he used his own belief in more positive goals to become the ultimate
supporter of peace.
Perhaps you can use the power of opposite
thinking in your life. When you
experience difficult relationships or have a disagreement with a loved one,
don't wait for the other to say they're sorry... do the opposite. You have the power to apologize first, and if
you do, you may turn grief into gratitude. If you find yourself struggling with money
difficulties, perhaps it’s time to think about how to put your passion
first. By following your passion, money
becomes a secondary focus, and significance becomes the new currency of
abundance in your life.
Sometimes opposite thinking is staring us
right in the face. You get to choose how
you want to read this word: is it impossible,
or is it I M POSSIBLE?
Just remember that it’s all about your mindsets and what you choose to
focus on.
Until next week…
Live Your Dreams
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