Partnership Educators,
In Hagerstown, Indiana, population 914, when the twentieth century began, young Ralph’s earliest memories were of the bicycle shop working alongside his patient father and uncles repairing bicycles. At age nine he envisioned a bicycle with four wheels. Have you seen those railroad inspection cars large enough to carry four men and their tools to a job site but light enough so they can lift them on and off the tracks when they hear a train coming? The first one was peddle-powered and the brainchild of Ralph. By 1901, he hand-made an engine to propel. In fact, he hand-made a working automobile when he was twelve years old. To the early automobile generation, perfect circle piston rings were all one word. Ralph perfected the circle. During World War I, our nation’s engineers were bottlenecked because high-speed rotors tore themselves up in our military destroyers. Ralph figured out how to balance them. In 1922 he designed and patented the first selective gear shift for automobiles. With the national speed limit coming on board, it challenged every motorist to watch the speed limit and the highway at the same time. So Ralph invented an accelerator that resisted pressure at a preset speed and so the cruise control was born. In 1938 the prestigious society of automobile engineers made him its president. He was married and helped to tutor many young people in engineering. He worked in boy scouts and was the founder of junior achievement. By 1988 he was inducted into the automotive hall of fame.
But with all his contributions to the motor car industry, he never drove one. He didn’t even drive the car that he built by hand. Ralph has been called by many a man of vision. He certainly was. He saw the future and improved it. His inventions made it more comfortable and convenient. He certainly made it safer for us all. It was clear that Ralph could see tomorrow with his ideas, but Ralph Teetor was blind. Ralph worked in a shop with some of the most delicate and precise tools but not with a light bulb. His gifted brain and skilled hands created mechanical and electrical components of intricate complexity but he was blind since the age of 8.
I am always inspired and encouraged by those that see the world as it is and live with positivity and perseverance. Whether we are born with barriers or we build them for ourselves, the schemas that we tell ourselves about those perceived or real barriers often become our reality. Ralph did not perceive his blindness as a barrier to accomplishing anything. It is said that his engineering touch made a difference in his inventions. Much of ancient and modern wisdom tells us that our outlook on our world makes a difference in the outcomes of our daily life. Buddha, “Our life is the creation of our mind”; Shakespeare, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” or Milton, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Jane Austen wrote in Mansfield Park, “There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.” We cannot always be bullied by our thoughts of disappointment but to remember the good that exists starts in our own hearts and minds.
Thanks to all of my partnership work family. I truly am inspired by your positive interactions with our students and your positive approach to the work that you do. Our students will always have “little rubs” and times when “happiness fails.” Knowing that you all are on the job for our students' failures gives me comfort in knowing that great outcomes are just around the corner for them and for us all.
https://youtu.be/U1GXRxmOw9o
Enjoy your weekend,
Rob