This is  a story about a famous research scientist who had made
several very important medical breakthroughs. He was being interviewed
by a newspaper reporter who asked him why he thought he was able to be
so much more creative than the average person. What set him so far
apart from others?

He responded that, in his opinion, it all came from an experience with
his mother that occurred when he was about two years old. He had been
trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he lost
his grip on the slippery bottle and it fell, spilling its contents all
over the kitchen floor—a veritable sea of milk!

When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him,
giving him a lecture, or punishing him, she said, "Robert, what a
great and wonderful mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge
puddle of milk. Well, the damage has already been done. Would you like
to get down and play in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it
up?"

Indeed, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "You know,
Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to
clean it up and restore everything to its proper order. So, how would
you like to do that? We could use a sponge, a towel, or a mop. Which
do you prefer?" He chose the sponge and together they cleaned up the
spilled milk.

His mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a failed
experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two tiny
hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water
and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it."
The little boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top near
the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a
wonderful lesson!