Written by: gfesadmin on November 8, 2012

This past January the family and I took in a day at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C..  It was a dream come true for me as a father.  For years now I have been telling Grace and Eli about all the amazing aircraft that are stored and preserved at the Smithsonian.  Such aircraft like the Space Shuttle Discovery, The Enola Gay, The Spirit of St. Louis and even the original Wright Brother’s plane.  It is sobering to say the least.  More than half way through the museum we cam to the special addition which housed the Wright Brothers collection.  Not long after entering the special area, Eli looked at me and asked, “Dad, how did they dream up the idea of flight out of nothing?”. Great question!

“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who…looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space…on the infinite highway of the air.”  Wilbur Wright

This past week while reading A Social History of The Media by Asa Briggs and Peter Burke, I was struck by Francis Bacon’s forecast “the opening of the door of nature”.  More particular was his vision of a Solomon’s House in his New Atlantis which would incorporate a college of inventors, two galleries for inventors past and lastly spaces or bases for inventors to come.  While reading Bacon’s vision which was written prior to 1620 I began to notice key parallels between his vision and the Wright Brother’s life work.  The following are three key parallel ideas.

Solomon’s House and the Wright Brothers

Respected the past… Wilbur and Orville deeply believed that the past was the key to the future.  Much of their time in inventing was studying key plans, dreams and inventions of the past.  They respected deeply those who had come before them and were rooted in the idea that they were simply part of history.  They had the ability to look back and learn, while at the same time realizing others would some day look back at them and learn.

Believed in the creative present…The brothers were known as bike builders.  However, unwilling to simply perpetuate the past, they believed in something more.  The creative present.  Wilbur would often refer to the birds and the fact that the desire to fly had been handed down to us by our fathers.  Willing to accept the past, Wilbur and Orville embraced the present and believed they could be part of history by creating a flying machine.

Dreamed about unspeakable futures… The brothers didn’t simply limit their vision to building a plane.  Rather they spoke of unimaginable futures.  A world where people could fly from New York to San Francisco, the United States to Britain and even travel around the world.  At the same time, the brothers proclaimed that these new inventions would transform communication and media as we know it. 

New Inventions… Technologies… Communication…

That day at the museum, Eli was enamored.  Caught up in the moment, and maybe even feeling some of the Wright Brothers innovative spirit, Eli looked at me and said, “Maybe some day with our new inventions, new technologies and the communication revolution we will learn how to fly without planes.”

Now, where do the flying squirrels come in?  A few weeks ago, my son Eli came home from school and immediately wanted to share a video with me which he had seen that day.  He said, “Dad, I think my statement about people flying is coming true.  Don’t they look like flying squirrels?”  Watch and enjoy! Crazy…

How are you at respecting the past?

Believing in the creative present?

Dreaming about unspeakable futures?

About the Author

gfesadmin