Henry Ford (1863 – 1947)

You may know Henry Ford as an American industrialist and business magnate. He was the founder of the Ford Motor Company in 1903, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. Ford created the first automobile that middle-class Americans could afford, and his conversion of the automobile from an expensive luxury into an accessible conveyance profoundly impacted the landscape of the 20th century. Ford’s 1908 introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized both transportation and American industry. As the Ford Motor Company sole owner, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He pioneered the 5-day working week and higher wages for workers.

This is a story from his childhood.

It was recess time at the little red schoolhouse in Michigan. Happy children burst through the doors into the sunshine, ready to play.

          “Choose up for prisoner’s base!” someone shouted.

          “I’m tired of that game,” Henry Ford complained. “Let’s do something different.”

          “OK!” his friend agreed. “Let’s play marbles instead.”

          “Or fox and geese,” another suggested.

          “We’ve played those games hundreds of times,” Henry said. “I mean let’s do something really different.”

          “Like what?”

          “Like building a dam across the creek.” Henry’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll make a wooden waterwheel, something like the one at the old mill, to fit in the race. What do you say?”

“Sounds great,” his friends all agreed.

And it was great! Before many days the dam was completed, and a waterwheel was installed. The small lake formed by the dam made a wonderful place to sail boats. Then one day the fun stopped. An angry farmer pulled his wagon into the schoolyard and confronted the teacher. “Your boys are ruining my potato crop with their dam! The whole field is covered with water! If you don’t do something immediately, I’m calling the police!”

          “I’m so sorry, sir,” the teacher replied. “The boys will destroy their dam, and I will see that it is not rebuilt.”

          “I’ll hold you to your word,” the farmer muttered as he stomped to his wagon.

That day Henry Ford and his friends learned that fun stops being fun when it hurts someone else. Of course, they hadn’t meant to harm the farmer’s potatoes. They just didn’t stop to think of the consequences of the dam they had built.

As the boys tore out the mud, rocks, and sticks, they agreed that they wouldn’t want someone to build a dam that made water overflow onto their farms. Henry spoke for all of them: “We’ll think twice before we build another dam!”

Seems to me that Jesus said something similar when He said we should treat others how we would like to be treated. (See Matt 7:12)