User:Paine Ellsworth/Creativity


 * Creativity :Yes, it can be elusive. It is in all of us, and to be creative we must call to it from within us. A creation can be pure, which happens when someone creates something "from scratch" without building on some past creation. Most of the time creativity builds on the past in some way or other.


 * A paper :I have been fortunate to have created several things during my life. I've invented some things and have written some creative papers. One of the most important papers was a single-page essay on how to improve electrical distribution in developing countries. I wrote it in 1974 during one of several student and teacher strikes, while serving with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, East Africa. The idea was based on the success of the Smallpox Eradication Program (SEP).


 * SEP :This user page is being written in the year 2024, fifty years after I wrote that paper and more than a hundred years after the world became serious about getting rid of smallpox. Before the turn of the 20th century, smallpox was a terrifying worldwide scourge having killed millions and millions of men, women and children. And their final days were spent in agonizing pain. I lived with two Peace Corps smallpox volunteers, whose work was tied to the SEP. They would answer an "alarm" by going out into the "bush" in their Land Rover to look for and treat smallpox as well as to administer vaccinations. When they returned, sometimes weeks later, they would tell me fascinating stories about their trek. One thing they told me was that Ethiopia was considered to be "the last great bastion of smallpox". In fact, the very last instance of "wild" smallpox was found in neighboring Somalia in 1977. Another thing they told me each time they returned from the bush was that they had not come across the dread disease. They had encountered similar-looking lesser diseases like chickenpox, tanapox and so on, but no smallpox. That of course was worth celebrating! I learned many things about the SEP and how it had been implemented, and I adapted much of that when I wrote the paper to improve the electrical distribution in Ethiopia and other developing countries.


 * Accepted :I submitted that paper to the Assistant Peace Corps Director in Ethiopia, Delores Rohaley, who then gave it to the Director, Dr. Bill Hoing. Both of them thought that it was strong enough to submit it to the Ethiopian Director of the Peace Corps, the sitting Minister of Education. At the time, Ethiopia was in a state of turmoil. The emperor, Haile Selassie, the last in a long line of Solomonic rulers, had been jailed following a military coup. And the generals were cracking down by ordering anyone with even a whiff of opposition to be shot. So everyone in any positions of power were walking on egg shells and were not making any important decisions. The Minister of Education regrettably turned down my idea because of that. The Peace Corps, however, decided to put my idea to work in several other participating countries.


 * NGUNS :Never give up – never surrender! Not all of my creations have been so widely well-received. Creativity is never a "cinch". Creations are more often just "duds". But please, don't ever give up. You just might create something that's useful and helpful. Look around you. Everything you see that is "man-made" was once just a thought in someone's mind. Everything. Chairs, tables, cabinets with self-closing door hinges, Rubik's Cube, televisions, clocks, watches and even wheels, yes all were at some point in time just a thought – an idea that was turned into something useful or desirable. That's not going to stop anytime soon. Inventions and other creations will continue to enter the world, so you might just as well be one of the people who creates them. Yes, be creative. Call to your creativity within yourself. Maybe meditate, or self-hypnotize. You just might be surprised at what you come up with!