40-Year Old Teacher Pursues His Passion

Millions of viewers watched intently last night to see if Ed Hall (my personal favorite) would be crowned ABC's First American Inventor. The pot of gold (or in this case, a check for a million dollars) was finally awarded to Janusz Liberkowski for his Spherical Safety Seat, but Hasbro recognized the genius behind Ed's electronic table-top word game - the Word Ace - and offered him the resources and support of their marketing department to get Word Ace out on the shelves -- maybe even in time for this coming holiday season!

What inspired me about this show in general (and, no, I never watched it's predecessory, Amerian Idol) was that we were witness to ordinary people following their dreams. With each episode, we heard story after story of personal sacrifice that these inventors went through to get them their two minutes in front of four judges who would decide whether they went on to the next level or back home to try something new. Even the ones that seemed pretty far-fetched were examples of what's possible if you combine creativity and perseverence.

What's your dream? What have you thought about, but haven't yet taken the first step towards seeing it happen? Or maybe you have been pursuing your dream for a long time, but keep running into obstacles. Don't give up! Pursue your passion. Each setback is one more stepping stone to figuring it out. Who knows? You may even be on the next American Inventor!