If there were a prototype for the kind of hero described in this book, it would be R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), and Iíve dedicated the book to Bucky. As a young man, early in this century, Bucky chose to make his life an experiment. He estimated that the experiment would take about fifty years, and it addressed the question: What can the "little individual" do on behalf of the planet?

Bucky recognized that governments and powerful corporations could have enormous impact on the quality of life on Earth. But what could one individual do? What would be the result of a single individual, occupying no official position, living life from the point of view of the whole planet?

It is altogether fitting to end this book with a brief review of Buckyís eighty-eight years on the planet. As you look at how you will live the remainder of your years on earth, you could have no better model for your life.

Buckyís life-long experiment began in despair. Following service as a naval officer during World War I, he tried his hand at a few diverse jobs and eventually found himself in Chicago with his wife Anne and his young daughter Alexandra, as partner in his father-in-lawís building construction firm. While his prospects were at first bright, it was all to change dramatically. Alexandra caught the flu, then was stricken by spinal meningitis. Finally, she was crippled by infantile paralysis.

When Alexandra died in 1923, Bucky was crushed, feeling he had been somehow responsible by not providing a better environment for her. He began drinking heavily and tried to bury himself in his work, but to no avail. By 1927, the building company had failed, losing all of Buckyís money and a great deal of money invested by his friends. By his own judgment, he was an utter failure in life.

In the depth of his depression, Bucky went to the shore of Lake Michigan and seriously considered suicide. He had not been able to provide for his helpless daughter. He was a failure in business, broke, and discredited among his friends. He had drawn the remains of his life into a bottle. Bucky Fuller as a human being seemed to represent little of value to his family, his community, or his planet. Ending his life seemed the appropriate thing to do.

Years later, during World War II, American soldiers in the Pacific theater confronted a strange phenomenon. Having faced the fanatical self-sacrifice of Japanese soldiers, they were astounded by those who were somehow captured alive. Unaccountably, they cooperated totally with their captors, answering their questions about Japanese military strength and plans. Anthropologists offered an explanation.

It was considered a Japanese soldierís duty to either be victorious or die in battle. Being captured was, strangely, the same as dying. The Japanese soldiers knew their families would henceforth regard them as dead. Their old lives had now ended, and their continued life was a strange existence, no longer governed by the old norms.

Standing on the shore of Lake Michigan, Bucky Fuller underwent a similar transformation. It was a though he had given up his old life and any conventional claim on it. Rather than throw his body into the lake, however, he chose to use the gift of continued life on behalf of his planet.

In 1927, I resolved to do my own thinking, and see what the individual, starting without any money or creditóin fact, with considerable discredit, but with a whole lot of experienceóto 

The Dymaxion House was a true revolution in building design. Housing a family of five, it was a "house on a pole." The hexagonal structure was suspended by cables from a missile-like mast rising through its center. Both inside and out, the Dymaxion House is still futuristic more than half a century later. Air was drawn in through the central mast, after which it was filtered and washed, cooled or heated, rendering the dwelling virtually dust-free. Water was filtered, sterilized, and recycled, so there was little need for piped-in water. Everything was built-in and many of the cabinets were controlled by intricate light beams.

All its futuristic gadgets notwithstanding, the Dymaxion House was true to Buckyís guiding principle of doing more with less. Whereas a conventional single-family house at that time weighed approximately 150 tons, Buckyís creation was a mere 3 tons. It could be mass-produced, and Bucky anticipated having units air-lifted by zeppelin to remote areas such as the North Pole.

Since his intention was to find a way of serving the interests of humankind rather than his own self-interest, Bucky offered in 1928 to transfer all rights to the Dymaxion House to the American Institute of Architects. His offer was refused, with an explanation that the organization was opposed to mass-produced houses.

At about this time, Bucky had an opportunity to test his commitment to his proclaimed experiment and to learn a lesson about making a difference in the world. In line with his fundamental rejection of the conventional norms of living, Bucky had taken to wearing T-shirts, sneakers, and casual clothes at a time when "respectable" people were expected to dress more formally. The rejection of the Dymaxion House somewhat hardened his rebellion against social conventions. Invited to a formal dinner, he was likely to show up in old clothes and, by his own description, be obnoxiously self-righteous about his views of things.

Eventually, he recognized that his behavior was interfering with his purpose in life.

Buckyís Dymaxion House never has become very popular, but another of his building construction ideas was to make him world famous. Bucky began by recognizing that although the square or rectangle was implicitly taken to be the fundamental element in most building projects, the triangle was far more stable and stronger. And triangles could be fit together to form hexagons, or pentagons which, in turn, could be packed together like the cells of a honeycomb. Thus arrived the geodesic dome, that amazing structure capable of enclosing large areas with no interior supports. Because of it ingenious structural design, the dome weighs little in relation to the job it does, and, as more stress is placed on it, the dome becomes stronger rather than weaker. Like the Dymaxion House, the geodesic dome lends itself to mass production and is easily transported and assembled, resulting in its use by the government at inaccessible locations such as the North Pole. By the time of his death, Bucky estimated there were more than three hundred thousand geodesic domes scattered around the world, covering more acreage than any other type of shelter.

While the geodesic dome was surely Buckyís most famous creation, it was only one of a great many. In addition to his other inventions in connection with the building industry, for example, there was the Dymaxion Car: a streamlined, three-wheeled vehicle with front-wheel drive and rear steering. It was the opposite of just about everything in the conventional cars of the 1930s. Moreover, it was exceptionally stable and maneuverable, and its ninety-horsepower engine could take the car up to 120 miles per hour.

Buckyís Dymaxion Map provides flat view of the Earth that has virtually no distortion, unlike the Mercator projection with its overwhelming Greenland and Antarctica. His World Game has offered educational recreation to millions.

Quite aside from his work as an architect, scientist, or engineer, Bucky was widely respected as a philosopher and was appointed Harvardís Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry in 1962. He was often called the planetís "friendly genius," or a modern Leonardo da Vinci. His friend John Denver sang of him as "grandfather of the universe."

For the purposes of this book, Buckyís achievements are less important than their source. Youíll recall his lifeís work had initially designed as an experiment to discover what "the little individual" could accomplish, and he never forgot that.

Increasingly, Bucky would hark back to his early naval experiences and speak of the role of the trim-tab: a tiny movable tab on a shipís rudder. Just as the rudderósmall in comparison with the shipís massóturns the entire ship, so the tiny trim-tab moves the rudder. In Buckyís vision, there was no world problem so great that it could not be impacted by the little individual, acting as a trim-tab.

Paradoxically, you and I cannot survive as solitary individuals in todayís world, yet neither can we survive unless we are willing to take personal responsibility, as individuals, for the whole. This book has aimed to honor the many heroes who walk among us and to reveal the hero that lives within us all. Iím bothered that the book has unavoidably ignored so many genuine heroesóincluding close friends whose heroism Iíve witnessed firsthand and often. We donít honor our heroes enough, and Iíd like to see us change that.

In titling this book, You Can Make a Difference, I realize that you probably knew that already, and I donít want to invalidate any of the ways you have made a difference in the past. At the same time, I know you are probably somewhat embarrassed about your acts of heroism, worried about what people may think. Moreover, if youíre anything like me, there have been many times you turned your back on opportunities to make a difference, and some times youíve probably tried to deny that you could make a difference.

It takes real courage to be human: to commit yourself to greatness, all the while knowing youíll weaken and fall short at times. Only genuine heroes can give it their best shot, fail, give up, and then bounce back.

In all this, you make a difference, not because I say you do, but because you say so. Only you can supply the courage to step forward, to take a stand for personal excellence. Yet, whenever one of us is willing to take a chance on heroism, it makes it that much easier for others to do so. This is how we will destroy the deadly conspiracy by which we now keep each other in line.

Inevitably, to talk of making a difference is to evoke feelings of burden, guilt, obligation, and pain. But, letís tell the whole truth.

To make a difference is to look life straight in the eye, to address the whole of life with deep compassion and true power. To make a difference is to experience creation and creativity. It brings an experience of ownership more profound than titles and deeds can ever confer.

Making a difference is the true joy in life, the knowing youíve been alive and that your living mattered. I couldnít wish you anything more, nor should you settle for anything less.