Learning: The Enemy of Evil
"All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice,
crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their
despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
- Noah Webster
(1758-1843) Writer/Educator
Throughout
American history we have many heroes.
Some have fought great battles, lead our armies to victory, discovered
new lands, created new inventions and even walked on the moon. We have a great and powerful heritage to be
proud of. There is one hero that some do
not see for the wonderful contribution he made.
In fact, he gets his greatest credit for one of his least successful
efforts. That hero is Noah Webster, born
this day, October 16, 1758.
Webster is best known for the
Dictionary he wrote. Sadly he did not
see the success of this work in his life time.
Where it was a great undertaking, it was far too big and expensive for
the average person to own. His greatest contribution
to America was actually in the area of education. Webster felt that American children should be
taught American words and language. Up
to this point all textbooks came from England.
So Noah Webster created his most popular and useful work. It was a set of books on American words that
included grammar, a reader and a speller.
The speller was the most widely used and came to be known as the Blue
Backed Speller.
Success-minded people of today
can learn a lot from good old Mr. Webster.
Remember that he was just an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. Just like you and me. Where he made a difference, so can you. Look at what he did.
He saw a real need of the people
Webster saw that there was a
need for American children to learn their own language. If you think that English is English, I suggest
that you take a visit to England; you will soon find that the British people
speak a different language that American English. The need Webster saw was that the use of
their own language, American English, gave people a sense of identity and
strength.
He used his talents
Webster knew what he was good
at, what was his strengths. He was an
educator and had a deep love and understanding of words. He did not just look at the problems in
American education, he asked himself, "What can I do about it?"
He filled the need
Noah Webster used his talents
and he found an answer to the problem.
This is the very way that all great inventions, discoveries and
advancements are made. Ordinary people
see ordinary problems and come up with extraordinary solutions.
You can do this. You can make a difference. What needs do you see around you? What can you do about it? Now - do it!
Comments
Post a Comment