The thoughts of great men - the thoughts of Columbus, for instance, brought a new continent across the horizon of the world's civilization. The thoughts of Robert Fulton brought a network of steamships lining the great waterways of the world. Benjamin Franklin thought and electricity was harnessed to light the world and to furnish needed power. Albert Einstein thought and from his thoughts, a wonderous new power came which could transform the world for good or for evil - open to men.
Carlisle wrote, "In every epic of the world, the greatest event, parent of all others, is it not the arrival of a thinker in the world?" "And yet", writes columnist John R. Gunn, "the arrival of a thinker is not always welcome by the world. Comfortable and complacent people do not usually like to be disturbed by a thinker and they are usually quick to offer opposition to new ideas. Emerson must have had such people in mind when he said, 'Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.'
The unthinking are apt to regard the thinker as a tragedy, but when you stop to think about it, the real tragedy is that there are so many people who are too indifferent or who are too lazy to think for themselves. After all, to think deeply and to think profoundly is a laborious task and requires strenuous effort. In accordance with the world's need of them, may the Lord continue to give us great thinkers."