Impossible Feats

Something we discussed with our students during NSO was the definition of "impossible."  What does it mean if something is impossible?  Here are my thoughts:

1) I like to quote Audrey Hepburn on this one and say that first off, nothing is impossible.  Even the word says "I'M POSSIBLE."
2) 100 years ago, there were several things that were impossible that we know are entirely possible today.  Traveling to the moon, communicating with anyone no matter you are, internet, even the technological advances made on automobiles.  My favorite example of this: Jules Verne.  When he wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, none of what he recorded was possible.  Today, we have lost the luster and magic of Verne's publication because it is entirely possible and no one gives it a second thought (well, maybe a second or third thought for the giant squid ...).
3) To me, impossible means that no one has done it yet.  No one has tried hard enough yet.  No one has been committed enough to accomplish their goals yet.  If you really want to do something, the fact that no one has done it before isn't going to stop you.  The fact that there will be naysayers and people who tell you it's impossible should never stop you from achieving your wildest dreams.

Some "Impossible" Feats Throughout History:
- September 3, 1783: The Americans defeated the British in the Revolutionary War
- 1870: Siegfried Marcus propels the first "car" by means of gasoline
- March 10, 1876: Alexander Graham Bell completes the first clear telephone call
- December 17, 1903: The Wright Brothers powered and sustained human flight
- December 21, 1906: Reginald Fessenden completes the first audio radio broadcast
- July 21, 1969: Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon
- April 3, 1973: Martin Cooper makes the first call on a handheld mobile phone
- 1982: The concept of "the internet" was introduced

Who's to say what's impossible and who's to say you can't do it?  As far as I'm concerned, when there's a true, determined, persevering, and undeterred will, there is always a way.  Find that way.  Find the way to do what's never been done.