The best ideas arise from a passionate interest in commonplace things

The statement above comes from the
perspective that the best thinkers, inventors, and
innovators are the way that they are because they
explore passionately the interesting things around
them. Yes, I would say that this is definitely true.
I understand best the things that interest me, but
it is only the things with which I am familiar with
and understand in my surroundings. It would be
difficult to take passionate interest in the things
which I did not have available in my environment.
For example, let’s consider some “idea” people
in history. The person who invented the basketball
hoop, or the game of volleyball, or ice skates, all
had interest in those things before they had their
brilliant ideas. I do know that the inventor of the
basketball hoop used to coach a basketball team
of young boys, and they would throw the ball
into a fruit basket that was nailed to the wall.
Obviously, a basket has a bottom to it, and they
would have to fish it out after every successful
throw. So he had the brilliant idea of cutting out
the bottom of the basket. It seems so simple to us
now, but nobody had ever played basketball like
that in his day.
The phrase, “commonplace things” can be
rather misleading, I believe. I think every person
has slightly different “commonplace things” in their
environment depending on their interests, their
financial status, and availability of items. What is
commonplace for one person may never be known
by another. I take passionate interest in things
having to do with sewing using patterns, fabrics
and threads. However, my mother and
grandmother are excellent seamstresses and
I had the availability of learning from them. It was
a “commonplace thing” for me. I have had some
wonderful ideas come out of my passion for this
kind of art.
Orville and Wilbur Wright had a passionate
interest in things having to do with flight, a rather
ordinary thing for the sorts of birds who can fly
with their wings, but certainly not people. If I had
lived during the Wright brothers’ time, I would
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probably not have had the same passionate
interest in figuring out how to make humans fly,
because it is not something that I would have
thought possible. But their dreams and visionary
possibilities were much bigger than mine would
have been at that time. They not only had a
passionate interest but they were willing to
experiment, to risk financial ruin and ridicule,
and even put their lives on the line. So while it is
true that the best ideas arise from a passionate
interest in commplace things, there also has to be
an element of daring to challenge “norms” and not
being able to just accept things as they are. There
has to be a desire to make things better and to
improve on the present.
There also has to be the element of not being
afraid of failure. Most ideas do inevitably fail.
Einstein is viewed today as being one of the most
brilliant thinkers and “idea” people in all of history.
But nobody really talks about how many times his
ideas failed. The number is quite amazing. Many
people are afraid of failure, so even though they
make take a passionate interest in something
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commonplace, and have some great ideas,
they may never carry them through because of
uncertainty that they would work. We must be
willing to try!
So, yes, it is true that the best ideas arise
from a passionate interest in commonplace things,
because these are the things that we know, these
are the things that we understand, and the things
that we want to explore in even more depths. But
there must be more elements involved than just
taking interest in something. We must be willing
to face risks of many kinds in order to separate the
ideas that fail from the ones that will triumphantly
succeed.