A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering How much patience should you have before people think you are stupid?" I explained to him that patience is not an isolated thing. It is an intelligent desire with a willingness to work, and an understanding of how much effort and time will be required. The man was right when he said research required a lot of patience. To start out on a new project is something like taking a trip from New York to the West Coast. We must know our destination and understand about how long the trip will last. We must realize that we will have to be on the train for several days. No intelligent person would become impatient and get off the train at Kansas City and then complain that he was not in Los Angeles. For a classic illustration of patience, let us look at the career of Charles Goodyear. In 1833, Goodyear became interested in rubber and the many failures that prevented rubber from becoming one of the world's most valuable materials. Realizing what a great benefit such a material would be to mankind, he resolved to dedicate his life to the solution of the problem. He had picked his destination. |