By Rick Combs, Volunteer Chaplain
Over the 4th of July weekend, extended family members came to town and we decided to take an hour drive to the George Washington Carver Museum in Diamond, Mo. As we heard and saw the story of this wonderful American who lived from 1864 to 1943, it dawned on me that so many in our OKDHS family may not be acquainted with him. So, I decided to share with you a little of his life, and more importantly, several of his quotes that live on today.
George Washington Carver was born to a slave family in 1864 on the Moses Carver plantation in Diamond Grove, Mo. From these humble beginnings, he became one of the nation’s greatest educators, scientists and agricultural researchers. You may remember one of Carver’s most famous discoveries: the creation of 350 products from the peanut. He also discovered 100 products from sweet potatoes.
If that wasn’t enough, Carver changed the landscape of the south by offering alternative ways to get the best crops from the land. In recognition of a lifetime of ingenious inventions and service to society, he was named to the USDA Hall of Heroes in 2000, and was one of 100 nominees for the “The Greatest American” series on the Discovery Channel in 2005.
His services were sought after by Henry Ford, Joseph Stalin, Gandhi and Thomas Edison. Let’s take a moment to read George Washington Carver’s famous quotes that still inspire us today. Let’s start with his most famous one:
“When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is for Me alone.’ So I said, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well George, that’s more nearly your size.’ And He told me.”
“It’s not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.”
“We have become 99 percent money mad. The method of living at home modestly and within our income, laying a little by systematically for the proverbial rainy day which is due to come, can almost be listed among the lost arts.”
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.”
“Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater.”
“If you love it enough, anything will talk to you.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”
“No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving something behind.”
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”
How true these words are for us today.