If Only I Could See

For the second time I have heard how Benjamin Franklin inspired the people of Philadelphia to light their streets.
It was the 18th century, and the streets were at night in one word, dark. Basically when someone walked the streets to say get home at night they risked tripping or worse still being robbed by an unseen assailant.
Franklin campaigned in his city to no avail.  It was what he did that is an inspiration to me.  He lit a lantern and put it outside his house, so it provided light in front of his home.  When someone walked by his house they could see where they were going, and see around them.  It was not long before a lot of houses in the city did the same thing.
There are a number of reasons I like that story among which is the fact that rather than bemoaning the campaign had proved unsuccessful Franklin demonstrated the benefits by displaying them.
To me a good idea is embraced.  If what he had been campaigning for had merely been the delusions of a madman, it would have gone nowhere.  But others saw the sense of it and took it on board.
A mate of mine had what I thought was a fantastic idea.  I encouraged them to do it (it was suggested to me in a context where I could say yes or no).  Yet nothing was done.  To this day I am sorry nothing was done.  It was just I was not going to do it.  I was not willing to put in the work to make it happen, but I was willing for that person to do it and rally any of like mind to get it done.
For me it is all about adhering to something, making it happen, and seeing it through.  Failure does not mean the end.  It only means the end of that way and the trying of another.  When something is worthwhile it is worthwhile in the easy and the hard times.
I like the story on the level that it showed a win in adversity for him but more than that it shows me something as important today as it has always been.  Just because I know something is the right way to go does not mean it will always be easy or unopposed.  But difficulties do not make something wrong.  They just require more effort.