Who Was Henry Ford? by Michael Burgan

 Who Was ...? biography series for middle grade brings fascinating character of Henry Ford who was the world’s most successful car maker and the founder of mass-production of automobiles. 

Henry Ford (1863-1947) was born on the Dearborn farm in Michigan. He was good at math and fascinated with mechanical objects. He explored the inside of any watch he could find. He also took apart wind-up toys and studied them. 

In nearby Detroit, he saw steam engines. He was so fascinated by it that he built a miniature steam engine, which exploded and burned down a nearby fence. 

On another trip to Detroit, when he saw a self-powered road engine, he knew he wanted to become a mechanic and an inventor. 

At sixteen, his path took him to Detroit, then back to Dearborn where he continued to learn how to build a steam engine. Meanwhile, he got married and said, “It was a very great thing to have my wife even more confident than I was.” 

Meanwhile, the first gas-powered car was built in Germany in 1885 by Karl Benz, but Henry believed he could improve on the design. 

Time was of essence as other inventors were racing to build automobiles. He didn’t like taking orders from investors. So he left the second company after only four months. Then, he found an investor that gave him free will. 

Detroit automakers were already selling cars, but Ford advertised that his cheaper car Model A was well-made and simple to operate. 

In all his work, he wasn’t driven by money. He said, “To do for the world more than the world does for you – that is success.” 

His new goal was to make new Model T even cheaper and faster. His new mass production was great for productivity but it wasn’t an exciting work. He doubled the salary of some employees in order to keep them long term. 

This biography illuminates a man who didn’t care about money; his drive was to improve people’s lives.  He believed in working hard and living simple which was instilled in him by his mother. It was opposite of how his son lived. Thus, it led to some friction between them. Henry Ford was flawed as any human being and that is also portrayed in the story.

This illustrated biography series for young readers, ages 8-11, is presented in a relatable way, with simple sentences and enriched with insightful inserts. 

Published in 2002 by Penguin Workshop

 

TRENDING INSPIRATION: “Do for the world more than the world does for you.”

 

Traits:

·         Whatever interested him, he was living and breathing it; studying it inside out

·         He didn’t like taking orders from others, so he took risks going on his own

·         He believed in working hard and living simple

·        Whatever he did he did, it was in the name of bettering people’s life, it was never in the name of money

·         He looked for ways to improve his cars until certain age, then he became pragmatic about the past and lived more in the past than present and it hindered the future progress of his success

 

 

“It was a very great thing to have my wife even more confident than I was.” – Henry Ford

“To do for the world more than the world does for you – that is success.” – Henry Ford

FURTHER INSPIRATION AND RECOMMENDATION:

 Henry Ford’s approach to life carries a lot of wisdom and brings to mind Bhagavad Gita by Krishna Dvaipāyana Vyāsa – edition by Stephen Mitchell

Bhagavad Gita means “The Song of the Blessed One.” No one knows when it was written, but there is a general consensus that in its original form it was an independent poem, which was later inserted into its present context, the Mahabharata.

This long poem tells the story of a war between the two clans of a royal family in northern India. At the end, the city lies in ruins and almost all the combatants are killed.

The Gita part takes place on the battlefield of Kuru at the beginning of the war. Krishna, a major deity in Hinduism, answers Arjun’s questions who doesn’t want to fight another man but is forced to do it and is confused by it. Krishna, through the answers, teaches about life and deathlessness, duty, nonattachment, the Self, love, spiritual practice, and the inconceivable depths of reality.

Gita is a book of deeply personal instruction. How you approach it is up to you, but its purpose is to transform your life. It provides the most important truths of human existence. It is not a linear answer, rather explained through different paths. We start with confronting the raw mind and surrendering the selfishness. It is the call to explore the Self, and let go of our ideas about reality and our desires for particular results, thus leading to freedom.

This great philosophical poem, a love song to reality, both the darkness and the light, to our own true Self is also an instruction manual for spiritual practice and a guide to peace of heart.

There are some aspects of the truth which are difficult to grasp for many Western readers. However, as the author points out, the healthiest way to approach this poem is to understand that ultimately it has nothing to teach as what we call wisdom is already inside us. We just need to awaken ourselves to remember it.

Personal note: If we truly had a compassion for one another, would we pick up a gun to fight against another human being? Division creates a crack for others to manipulate humanity. War is a response to a division. If people were united, would governments be able to forge wars? I very much doubt it. There is supposedly a new generation among us that will refuse to pick up gun and that’s how we humans will end wars, not the governments that for most part are corrupted, and not serving humanity.