During the court hearing, the lawyers of the paper placed Ford on the witness stand to prove that though he was knowledgeable about automobiles, he was generally ignorant. So they asked questions on various topics other than automobiles - questions like who is Arnold Benedict and how many soldiers did the British send over to America to put down the rebellion of 1776. (Ok, I don’t even have any general idea on who or what they are talking about! Haha…).
Ford got tired of the line of questioning and after the question on the number of soldiers, he said, “If I really want to answer that foolish question you’ve just asked, or any of the other questions you’ve been asking me, , let me remind you that I have a row of electronic push buttons on my desk, and by posting the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer any question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me, why should I clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?”.
At that point, everyone in the courtroom realized it was the answer of an educated man. Though he was someone whose formal education didn’t even reach 6th grade, he was definitely the soundest of them all.
Funny though why some people can’t just be happy for others that they have to drag them down. Life isn’t supposed to be a contest where some should be winners and some losers because we could actually all be winners. :)
