[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 45 (Thursday, March 28, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STEVEN REDDINGTON'S WINNING ESSAY

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                     HON. MICHAEL PATRICK FLANAGAN

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 28, 1996

  Mr. FLANAGAN. Mr. Speaker, the winner of the first annual Fifth 
Congressional District essay contest is Steven Reddington, a student in 
the Saint Priscilla School at 7001 West Addison Street in Chicago. The 
principal of the school, Sister Joyce Roehl, is to be commended for 
allowing her students to participate in the contest.
  Evidently, Steven Reddington has learned the lessons of his English 
faculty adviser, Ms. Corinne Schade, well. The contest asked students 
to write about an American invention of the student's choosing and 
describe how that invention impacted society. Over 100 schools in the 
Fifth District were invited to participate in the essay contest and my 
office received an overwhelming response. Out of all the essays 
received, Steven's was the only one that was written from the 
perspective of the inventor. He chose to write about Thomas Edison and 
his electric light bulb. Steven entitled his imaginative and inventive 
essay, ``The Quest for Light.''
  I urge my colleagues to read Steven's essay. If you do, you will find 
a fine example of creative writing by a young man who may well make a 
mark in American literature in the 21st century. Steven Reddington's 
essay follows:

                          The Quest for Light

                         (By Steven Reddington)

       As the sun begins to set, the light in my laboratory grows 
     too faint to work any longer. I must put away my work until 
     tomorrow. Out on the street the arc lamps are lit to burn 
     until the sun rises again. I have thought long about finding 
     an artificial light, and each day my endless research takes 
     me closer to my goal.
       How the world would change with my invention. I can only 
     imagine what it would be like to have light twenty-four hours 
     a day. Life in the home would change dramatically. There 
     would be no more going to bed when the room became too dark 
     for seeing. Now I could read the morning newspaper in the 
     evening while my children study or play games. One day would 
     be so much longer. The economy would flourish. Factories 
     could run all day and night producing more goods and 
     employing new workers. In turn these workers would have more 
     money to spend, and more time to spend it. This would open up 
     a whole new world of nightly entertainment for people to 
     enjoy. Now we could attend social gatherings and church 
     services that before would only take place during daylight 
     hours.
       Picture what Grand Central Station would be like with 
     thousands of glowing lights as passengers board the midnight 
     trains to Boston. Hospitals could care for the sick, and 
     perform life saving operations without the use of dim light 
     given off by oil burning lamps. Fires from these type of 
     lamps would no longer be a concern. All the lives and homes 
     that would be spared if a new source of light could be 
     produced. The benefits and use to humanity would certainly be 
     worth all the painstaking hours of work that I have dedicated 
     to this project. As I've always said, ``One-percent 
     inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration!''.
       It is now October of 1874, I believe I have finally 
     realized my dream. At my laboratory in Menlo Park, New 
     Jersey, I have before me a glass tube with a wire thread 
     inside of it. Next, electricity flows through a wire and into 
     the glass tube. The wire thread glows with heat, and the room 
     is illuminated with a soft light. As I gaze with pride, I 
     understand the effects this will have on the future of our 
     everyday lives.
       Now if I could give it the proper name. Maybe I should call 
     it the Thomas Edison, or perhaps the Edison Bulb. No, I have 
     it! I'll call it the light bulb. That would be a most fitting 
     name!

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