{"id":1304,"date":"2010-04-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/04\/because-death-catches-up-to-all-of-us-even-thomas-alva-edison\/"},"modified":"2017-01-24T19:04:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T00:04:52","slug":"because-death-catches-up-to-all-of-us-even-thomas-alva-edison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/04\/because-death-catches-up-to-all-of-us-even-thomas-alva-edison.html","title":{"rendered":"Because Death Catches Up to All of Us, Even Thomas Alva Edison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a>Before Thomas Alva Edison graced the world with his gifts, the only way to record a human being\u2019s voice was in one\u2019s memory. There was no way to preserve a moving image. Despite his intensive efforts to record his own life and the lives of others through his development of sound recordings and moving pictures, Edison met the same end we all will: he died. A visit to the Thomas\u00a0Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey, Thursday morning made me grateful for the man and also for my faith in a world beyond this one\u2014a faith that Edison, for all of his brilliance, lacked.<\/div>\n

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To visit this recently reopened historic site,<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>which I did with my family Thursday, is to be awed by the man and his gifts. Edison was born in 1847. His early life was not easy. Edison did not learn to talk until he was four. He left formal schooling after three months because a teacher found him \u201caddled.\u201d His mom home-schooled him after that. A bout of scarlet fever left him partially deaf.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>His life was filled with material success. His friends, including Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, were wealthy and successful. His accomplishments include the invention of the incandescent light bulb, early motion pictures, and the phonograph. He won numerous accolades, including being elected the first honorary member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was awarded a \u00a0Congressional Gold Medal and a posthumous Grammy.<\/div>\n
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He amassed great fortune and fame during his 84 years. His laboratories in West Orange were the world\u2019s first industrial research laboratory. He spent so many hours working there\u2014up to 115 a week\u2014that his wife put a bed in the laboratory library so he could rest.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s hard to discern exactly what Edison\u2019s spiritual beliefs were. Some say he was an atheist, others that he was a deist, still others that he dabbled in the occcult. But it\u2019s clear that his belief in the afterlife\u2014or that our faith here on earth will affect our eternity\u2014played no role in this rational man of science\u2019s world view.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Death caught up to Edison, as it will the rest of us. The enormous clock in his three-story library stopped at the time of his death. The audio guide we listened to during the tour says it remains a mystery who exactly stopped the clock.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What struck me and Greg during our visit was Edison\u2019s apparent obsession with preserving the memory of himself. He named dozens of companies and inventions after himself. Donald Trump, anyone? He had numerous photographs and films and recordings of himself. Oddest of all, when he lay dying, one of his sons held a test tube to his mouth to preserve his dying breath.\u00a0That sealed test tube is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield, Michigan. \u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I found it ironic and sad to learn that \u00a0Edison\u2019s lifelong favorite poem was \u00a0Thomas Gray\u2019s \u00a0\u201cElegy Written in a \u00a0Country Church-yard.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0His favorite stanza was the ninth:\u00a0\u201cThe boast of heraldry, \u00a0the pomp of power. And all that beauty all that wealth e\u2019er gave, Alike awaits th\u2019inevitable hour: \u2014 The paths of glory leads but to the grave.\u201d<\/i><\/div>\n

<\/i><\/div>\n
Since my husband survived the 9-11 terrorist attacks, he and I no longer fear death. Our Catholicism has led us to know in our hearts that our lives in Christ will endure beyond our last breath on this earth.<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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