I am an inventor, because I always wanted to be.
Quite a few years back, my parents and siblings and I went to Luxembourg during our summer holiday. On a daytrip we visited a hydroelectric station, a huge installment that is used to generate electricity from a water current. Back at the campsite (we had a big tent) I rebuilt the installation the way I thought it would work, using straws, cord, a table and a few dinner plates.
This is the most vivid memory I have from my past. I’m not sure how old I was exactly, but nevertheless it appears stunning to me that I understood the concept of getting electricity from a current: water from a high place flows down to a lower place, rotating generators on the way.
I remember I liked pushing buttons. I once switched off a cash register (my parents were at the checkout), probably because I wanted to know what happened when you pushed that certain button. Also, I used to deconstruct things. I had no idea what I was doing, but seeing what’s inside a broken radio is so much fun.
Back there it started. All the neighbour kids wanted to be policemen or firemen, I wanted to be an inventor.
There’s no course or college or research minor that teaches you how to become an inventor. In inventing, there are no grades, no marks, no assessments. Being an inventor is not a line of work, not a profession, not a job. Not even a lifestyle.
It’s a purpose, a calling. A way I see the world. It’s like those fancy glasses that clean themself with tiny sweepers: every time they come by they wipe clean your view, so you can look at the world again with a fresh view.
Being an inventor is about wondering, and then creating. That’s what I am, what I do, and this is why I do it. I’m an inventor.
