Part One: The Wheel Revolution
1
O nce upon a time, a long, long time ago, way back in the days of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, there lived a guy named Max.
One day, Max was traveling on business, and he had a layover between caravans. Stuck with time on his hands, Max got to talking to a few of the locals, and they told him all about this big Pyramid that was under constructionāit was the largest stone structure ever attempted in the history of the world.
āWhere is it?ā Max asked them.
āItās right on the edge of town,ā they said. āYou canāt miss it.ā
āWhat the heck,ā said Max, āmaybe Iāll go have a look.ā
So he rented a camel, rode it to the edge of town, and sure enough, there in the distance were the sloping foundations of what would someday be the very first Pyramid. And everywhere Max looked, he saw thousands of sweaty workers cutting big, heavy stones with hammers and chisels, and then dragging the huge stones into place. To move the heaviest of stones, they had elephants, dozens of them, but even with the help of elephants the work was hot, backbreaking, and slow.
Man, itās going to take them forever to build this thing, thought Max.
Impressed though he was with what he saw, he was very glad that he wasnāt working there.
When Max got home, he couldnāt stop thinking about that huge Pyramid and all those workers dragging the stones around. He even had a dream one night that he was one of the stone-dragging team, toiling in the sun, and after tossing and turning for half the night, he awakened with a terrible thirst.
He got out of bed to get a drink of waterāand lo! He had the most brilliant idea heād ever had in his life.
As he sipped his drink of water, he thought about his idea. He went back to bed, thought about it some more, and the more he thought, the more he was convinced that his idea was really something.
At last, Max nodded off to dreamland, but in the morning when he woke up, his idea was still with him. And it still seemed brilliant to him. So he went downstairs to the workshop he had in a spare room at the back of his house and he set to it.
Years later, after many disappointments and failures, Max had done it. He had turned his idea into a real thing. Very proud of his accomplishment, he rolled it out of the workshop and into the kitchen to show his wife.
āLook, Minnie!ā he said. āLook what Iāve invented!ā
āWhat the heck is that?ā his wife asked.
āItās the Wheel!ā said Max.
āItās the what?ā
āThe Wheel. This is what Iāve been working on all these years.ā
āYeah? Whatās it do?ā
āWhatās it do? You just watch!ā And Max rolled the Wheel across the kitchen floor. āSee, it goes āround and āround!ā
āThatās . . . interesting. Does it do anything else?ā
āWell, no, thatās pretty much it. But, Minnie, I think the Wheel could turn out to be a very useful thing.ā
āWhat makes you think that?ā
āBecause people wonāt have to drag things the way they always have. With the aid of the Wheel, you see, heavy objects can be made to roll.ā
āSo?ā asked his wife.
āDonāt you get it? The Wheel is going to make it possible to move things much more quicklyāand with far less effort! People will get more work done in less time!ā
āWell, it sounds good,ā said Minnie, trying not to look skeptical.
āAnd you know what else?ā said Max. āThe Wheel is going to make us lots of money!ā
āOh?ā
āSomeday, millions of people all over the world will use the Wheel. And we will own the patent!ā
āUh-huh. Well, thatās nice, dear. You keep at it, and let me know when weāre rich.ā
Max did keep at it. He built more and more Wheels. He filled his whole workshop with themāand each Wheel he built was better and more refined.
One evening, Minnie came into the workshop. She stood perplexed amidst Maxās vast inventory of Wheels, and asked, āSo, um, howās it going?ā
āNot bad,ā said Max. āTake a look at this one. See? Itās rounder!ā
āVery nice, dear.ā
āAnd take a look at this!ā said Max, holding up a thick wooden pole. āI call it the Axle.ā
āOh? And what does an Axle do?ā
āWell, you see, Minnie, with an Axle, I can join together two Wheels, one on each end, and place the object to be moved in the middle! This is eminently more practical than using one Wheel by itselfāand just think of itāI can sell twice as many Wheels!ā
āIām glad you brought that up,ā said his wife.
āBrought what up?ā
āSelling these things. It seems to me that if weāre going to get rich, youāre going to have to go out and sell these Wheels of yours, arenāt you?ā
āSell? Me? Minnie, the Wheel is a brilliant invention! One does not have to sell brilliant inventions; brilliant inventions sell themselves!ā
āUh-huh. Well, I havenāt been seeing the Wheels rolling out the door on their own. I donāt think they know how to sell themselves. I think youāre going to have to do it for them.ā
This suggestion gave Max a modest anxiety attack. Because while he now knew a great deal about Wheels, he knew almost nothing about selling.
āYou just wait, Minnie. When word of the Wheel gets around, and the idea catches on, thereāll be people lined up outside our door begging me to sell them a Wheel.ā
Weeks went by, but nobody lined up outside Maxās door.
Finally, Max could not fit any more Wheels into the workshop. He wanted to start storing them in the living room, but Minnie laid down the law.
āAbsolutely not!ā his wife said. āYouāve got to get rid of some of these Wheels. Either start selling them or roll them into the river!ā
At last Max had to face reality. After grumping about the house for a few hours, he picked out his two roundest Wheels, rolled them into the street, attached them to his best Axle, and pushed his contraption through the neighborhood.
āLook,ā Max would say to anyone who would give him the time, āarenāt these terrific? I call them āWheels.ā Theyāre my own invention. You see, with Wheels, you donāt have to drag things, you canāhey, wait a minute! Come back!ā
Unfortunately for Max, no one was interested. After weeks of pushing his Wheels up one street and down the next, knocking on doors, introducing himself, explaining these great things called Wheelsānothing! Nobody wanted them.
Some even laughed at Maxās suggestion that they might want to purchase Wheels of their own.
āYou want money? For those? Ha! Ha! Ha-ha-ha!ā
It was embarrassing, even humiliating, for poor Max. He began to doubt that he could even give away his Wheels. Finally, very depressed and disappointed, he turned and rolled them toward home.
āAll that time and effort I put in! And for what?ā he asked aloud as he removed the Wheels from their Axle.
Disgusted, he gave one of the Wheels a kick. It rolled to the wall, bumped it hard enough to make a crack in the plaster, and toppled over. Plop.
Minnie looked at her husband and felt bad. She sat down with him on the sofa, put her hand on his arm.
āI canāt believe it!ā Max lamented. āHere I come up with what might possibly be one of the greatest inventions ever, and nobody wants it!ā
āMax, there are millions of people in the world. Surely some of them must have a use for the Wheel.ā
āBut how do I find them? And if I find them, how do I sell it to them?ā
Minnie slowly shook her head. āI donāt know.ā
They both thought for a moment.
Then Minnie ...