Determination and Persistence Thisis area life tory of engineer John Roebling building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1869. The bridge was completed in 18833, after 14 years. It connects the boroughs of Menihattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River which has the main spa of 486 Meters and was the frst steel wire suspension bridge constructed In 1869, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought tha this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the dea. It ust could not be done. twas not practical. Ithad never been done before. Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about tal the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be: done. He just had to share the cream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built Working together fo the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the abstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, an the headiness of a id challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge. The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took th fife of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left ith certain amount of bain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk. We told them so Crazy men and thelr crazy dreams. Its foolish to chase wild visions: Everyone had a negative comment to make and el that the project should be scrapped: since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be bull. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desir to complete the bridge and his mind was stil as sharp as ever. He red to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his fiends, but they were too daunted by the task. 4 he lay on his bed in his hospital room, ith the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gente breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able o see the sky and the tops of the trees outside or just a moment. It seemed that there was a message for im not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided fo make: the best use oft. By moving this, he lowly developed a code of communication with hs wie. He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping er arm to tel the engineers what to do. I seemed foolish but the project was under way again. For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in alts glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances ts also a tribute tothe engineers and their team work, ani 10 thir faith in man who was considered mad by haf the world. It stands 100s. tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of er husband and fod the. engineers what to do. Perhaps thisis one ofthe best examples of a never say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal. Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day fe our hurdle seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.