At the age of 32, Buckminster Fuller was depressed about his life.
Since his birth, he was different from others and had to overcome many difficulties.
He was born with serious nearsightedness and had to wear eyeglasses at an early age.
To him, the world was nothing but a smoke of blur.
But he fought this by perceiving the world with more than his eyes.
This tactile form of intelligence made him out of the league.
He had trouble understanding the geometry, but when he was 12 he invented a push-pull system
for propelling a rowboat.
Being different was always a problem for him.
He was expelled from Harvard University because he found the learning process boring and was bunking classes and drinking heavily.
Then he hopped from one job to another.
His love for the machines got him a decent job in the Navy during World War 1.
But he was unable to overcome his restlessness and had to leave this job.
To support his wife and child he took a lucrative job of a sales manager.
He fought his restlessness and kept aside his special abilities at bay.
Though he disliked the job, he worked hard for the sake of his family.
But his luck never left him alone.
After a few months, the company got shut down, making Fuller again unemployed.
Meanwhile, his father-in-law was searching for investors for producing a material that would make
the houses durable.
Fuller, who also loved housing and architecture, partnered with his father-in-law.
They established the Stockade Building System with the backing of a few investors.
But Fuller's special powers again became a hurdle for him.
His ideas clashed with the other board members.
After 5 years of hardship, the Stockade Building System was sold and Fuller was fired from his president post.
He was again jobless.
But this time it was tough.
He was 32, no work, and no savings to support his family.
His reputation was shattered and he did not have any hope of getting a decent job again.
He started drinking heavily.
Since birth, he had fought with many difficulties, but this was the limit.
He gave up and decided to commit suicide.
He was going to end his life so that his family can survive with his insurance policy.
To drown himself he started walking towards the lake.
Then something happened that changed the course of his life.
He felt that he was hanging several feet above the ground and was surrounded by a white sphere of light.
Then he heard a voice (he was not sure from where it came).
It said, "From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others".
The voice gave him goosebumps making him cancel his suicide.
As he walked back towards his home he started to re-evaluate his life.
Thoughts pondered in Fuller's head.
“I am not a complete failure".
“I can learn many things from my life episodes".
“The only mistake I made was to fall in line and trying to live like others".
He decided that from now on he will listen only to himself and his past experience.
He will take care of his family and also fulfill his dream of making new types of cars, houses, and building structures.
And there was no stopping for him since then.
In the coming years, Fuller worked hard and invented the Dymaxion car, Dymaxion houses, and geodesic dome which changed the concept of architecture.
He published more than 30 books on architecture and design and was a recipient of 28 United States patents and many honorary doctorates.
It seems that the universe which created hurdles for him in the past had at last fallen in line with him.
Be yourself and everything will fall in line sooner or later.
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