I have always had a deep admiration for people who have faced strong adversity in life and persevered. The kind of people I admire are those who, against all odds, seem to somehow keep going with there eyes planted squarely on their goals when a lesser man or woman would have fallen and eventually failed.

One of my favorite movies that involves this kind of situation is "Rudy". It is a story about a young college kid who wants nothing more in life than to play for the Notre Dame football team. To make a very intricate story short and to the point; eventually, after much adversity, Rudy realizes his dream by playing in one final game for the Notre Dame football team ( Just to let you know, this movie is probably one of the only movies that it is acceptable for a man to cry while watching).

I recently saw a special on the history channel about a man who faced even more adversity and gained even more, as a consequence to his presence. This man George Washington Carver. Now I, of course, had heard of this man before and knew of some of his great triumphs, but I never truly knew of how much he had benefited society in his lifetime and how much of a struggle he had to face to do it. What was truly amazing about this man was that he was and African American living in a time (the eighteen hundreds) when African Americans were not "looked up to" and where not given any credence when it came to their ideas and theories.

George was born into slavery during the end of the Civil War. Eventually he graduated Iowa State College with a BS and MS degree in Agriculture. He specialized in Chemurgy: a term for a specific science dealing with agricultural goods and finding uses for them with regards to industrial applications. A man before his time, he also excelled in the Arts, Teaching, Systemic Botany and became the Director of Agricultural Research for Tuskegee University. He was once offered a job by Thomas Edison for over one hundred thousand dollars a year and turned it down in favor of continuing his quest for the benefit of mankind (Imagine what the true value of that amount of money was, in the eighteen hundreds). Carver found hundreds of uses for Peanuts, Sweet Potatoes, Pecans and Soy beans.

He improved and pioneered the use of plastics, greases, cosmetics, cotton and so many other products. Looking at all of Carvers accomplishments is like looking at a grocery list for a Japanese Sumo wrestling team. He is one of the most prolific people that I have ever read about. To put it in other terms, just looking at what this man has accomplished, makes me tired and want to take a nap. So if you ever wanted to read about a great man and a true genius, read about George and you won't be disappointed.

In our current times we have little to look forward to, in the way of role models. No matter what the race of the individual, if you were to look around to see someone for our children to emulate, you would mostly find violence and bad behavior in sports, corruption and graft in politics, and lying and cheating in private sector and in industry. This fact makes men like George Washington Carver even more attractive. He stood in the crowd and shined out from it. A man who turned down all attempts at monetary success, knowing what was important in life and going for it with all his heart.

February was Black History Month, and in light of this relatively new acknowledgement to our African American's in history; I would like to profess that George Washington Carver was not only a great African American, but a hero and a genius. He set the standard, in my mind, for what it is to be a hero to Americans and a hero to all mankind.

Dante Persechino is an accomplished artist and stay at home dad, the opinions reflected in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of findRI.com, Inc, its employees or its sponsor. To send a comment on this article click on the link below.