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The Greatest Lie

By Gordon Francis Corbett

    Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “pessimism,” in its first definition, as follows:  

                 “an inclination to emphasize adverse conditions and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome”
 

    Pessimism preaches that all is futility;  that however one tries, and however one succeeds, in the end he will achieve nothing.  This is the greatest lie in history.

    Our own selves bear witness to that fact.

    Because medical entrepreneurs invented drugs and surgical techniques that cure or circumvent many otherwise fatal diseases and disorders, our doctors can defeat those illnesses and let us continue living.

    Because Dupont Laboratories invented rayon, and because other laboratories invented other artificial fibers, we can clothe ourselves as our forebears could only have dreamt.

    Because Thomas Edison tried six thousand substances in his bulbs before finding one that would glow without breaking, we can see long into the night without our eyes’ suffering strain from flickering flame.

    Because Daimler, Benz, Ford, and others invented and developed automobiles, letting us junk the literal horsepower that had conveyed our ancestors for over six thousand years, we can travel quietly, swiftly, and comfortably wherever roads extend.

    Because Guglielmo Marconi and many others invented and developed the radio and other electronic devices, we can obtain news, comment, and music whose enormous variety and perfect sound would have shocked and delighted our grandparents.

    Because Philo Farnsworth invented television, and because others developed it, we can watch photographically perfect color on a plasma screen almost five feet wide.

    Because Gustav Weiszkopf flew the first powered airplane;  because the Wright brothers worked day and night to develop his invention and to invent the business of aviation;  and because others built on their foundation, we can go wherever aircraft land.  Watch the sky and you will see great ships of commerce cross the firmament, taking passengers and cargo beyond our horizons at breathtaking speeds.

    Because Douglas, Northrop, Boeing, Johnson, and untold other pioneers believed that aerial defense is possible, military and naval aircraft guarantee our safety as no armed force on land or sea could possibly have done only a century ago.  To those men, we owe our freedom and, perhaps, our lives.

    These inventors and developers, and countless others, persevered because they believed that they could succeed.  Without their success, our lives would be briefer, slower, duller, dimmer, far more risky, and much more painful.

    The inventions we put in our bodies, on our backs, in our buildings, on our highways, and in our skies prove that when we think, our minds build their power and throw back the darkness.

    In her novel “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand’s hero, John Galt, tells a radio audience,

                “Fight for the value of your person.  Fight
                for the virtue of your pride.  Fight for the
                essence of that which is man:  for his
                sovereign rational mind.  Fight with the
                radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude
                of knowing that yours is the Morality of Life
                and that yours is the battle for any
                achievement, any value, any goodness, any
                joy that has ever existed on this earth.”
 
 

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