Roy Petitfils, an author, speaker and counselor in the USA, passed on this story:Detroit, a living monument to cars, this summer celebrates the centennial of the automobile industry.
It was during the early morning hours of June 4, 1896, that Henry Ford completed his first car, only to discover that it was too big to fit through the doors of the garage where he had assembled it.
The garage owner, from whom Ford was renting, went and grabbed a sledgehammer, came back and smashed at the garage's brick walls until he had an opening wide enough to drive his crude vehicle out onto Detroit's cobblestone streets.
Roy, in his work with youth workers and teachers, makes this application:
Inside young people there often lies a spark that could change the world.
Our job is to demolish the "garage" walls enabling them to share their gifts with the world.
Source: Robyn Meredith, What’s Doing in Detroit, New York Times, 26 May 1996.
Thanks to Roy for passing on this story.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Glad someone smashed the garage doors that allowed this 1930 Model A to get out on the road.