I’ve been told that a lot in life. Not literally, thankfully. But figuratively. Some people may as well have said it to my face.
I’m a visionary, an inventor.
I’ve had hundreds of ideas during my short existence. Revolutionary ideas, world-changing. But you’ve never heard of them.
Steadies are essential to make this world turn.
Of the all the people that make up our world, about 90% of them are Steadies. They work a “normal” job, commute to work every day, have insurance and retirement, and probably even benefits.
You see, the steady factory worker or delivery truck driver or cashier works day after day and gets paid for their contribution to society. They are essential to make this world turn. It’s not too hard for them to find a job, and if it doesn’t suit them they can usually find another one just as easily.
The same is true for the Commands. They are the ones who make everything happen. Every entity needs a leader, an organizer, a manager. People tend to rally around a Command, they naturally guide and direct the masses. That’s their place in grand scheme. They are needed and welcomed. And, like the Steadies, they are compensated for their services.
But the Visionary…well, he seems to be on his own. He doesn’t get paid simply for having a good idea. Unless that idea happens to flow perfectly into the right hands that can make a profit for someone.
Inventors are the noisy, annoying crazies.
I mean, no matter how good an invention is, if the poor inventor doesn’t have the means or connections to get it off the ground, he starves. When winter comes, he is buried in the snow, his absence unnoticed; or perhaps even cheered. Inventors are the noisy, annoying crazies. Always spouting off a new idea or theory. They are usually misfits in society and have poor social skills.
To join the workforce and grind away at a steady job would be pure agony for the Visionary. Not that he is above hard work, far be it from that. To the contrary, he vigorously expends nearly every ounce of his energy in his work. Rarely do others understand his passion to invent, his drive to create. It’s what he lives for. It’s the sole purpose of his very being. He doesn’t do it for money, it has nothing to do with that.
Just the thought of “settling down” and getting a regular job like everyone else and maybe someday pursuing his dreams after retirement is enough to trigger a panic attack. Ten years—or even two years—is an eternity.
He doesn’t want to solve other people’s problems or develop their ideas; he has his own. To be ruled by the directives and whims of an executive makes the Visionary feel like his ingenuity is being exploited and harvested. He needs to be unrestricted to let his creativity flow into his own innovations. But apparently that’s not how our world is set up. It is geared for profit only, not dreaming inventors.
You’ll never hear of them. Unless you visit the Graveyard.
How many Steve Jobs or Elon Musks have been quenched and wound up in the Inventor Graveyard because they didn’t have the means or connections to make their idea happen? Or it was rejected because those with the means couldn’t see how they would profit from it? Edison was one of the very few who recognized what the electric lightbulb would do for the world. But there was no need for it, in most opinions of the day.
We only know about Edison, Jobs, and Musk because they happened to be fortunate enough to hit upon an idea that actually got into the right hands and propelled them out of the uncultivated Wilderness of Visionaries. I cannot accept that they are alone. There are others. Many others. But you’ll probably never hear of them. Unless you visit the Graveyard.