There’s Always a Way to be Useful – March 09, 2003
In 1908 while still a young Harvard graduate student, Edward Sheldon’s first play became a Broadway hit. The series of successes that followed made Sheldon the most promising playwright of his time. Indeed he was known as Broadway’s “Wonder Boy.” But just as he was approaching what should have been the pinnacle of his career, his health began a rapid decline. First he suffered a stroke. Then he was stricken with a devastating form of arthritis that eventually crippled his entire body. The final blow came when he lost his sight. Edward Sheldon was condemned to a motionless life in bed, able only to hear and to speak. Robbed of the capacity to pursue his personal ambitions, it would have been easy for him to feel worthless. But Sheldon refused to give in to his deplorable condition. He decided to lend his keen intellectual abilities to the work of others. Soon droves of the world’s most talented artists began to seek out his advice. Famous authors, playwrights, and actors came to his apartment where they received constructive feedback on their work. Sheldon even collaborated on many of their projects, but he never wanted any credit. His only interest was the satisfaction he found in helping them succeed. Visitors who may have assumed they would be consoling an invalid came away from Edward Sheldon’s presence encouraged and inspired.1
No, Broadway’s one-time “Wonder Boy” was never able to write another play–not a single word–not even a drop of ink on a blank sheet of paper. Yet from the confinement of his bed he helped pour life into the prose and verse that defined a universe for those who needed his special touch.
Each of us has something to offer, something inside us that will blossom beyond our confinements of insecurity, perceived lack of education, or physical restrictions. We can be useful, somehow, in our own way. Abraham Lincoln said: “Men are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” We are also about as useful as we make up our minds to be.
Program #3838
1. See Arthur S. Anderson, By Example: Motivating Stories from Great Lives (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1960), pp. 48-49.
Al Stopa