The Great Wall

The man who first thought of the Great Wall of China never got any credit. He imagined a wall bigger and longer than any wall in the world. He imagined it dividing China. But he was hundreds of years too early, and he lived in a place and time when no one cared and there was no need for a Great Wall. He died unhappily, wishing he could have lived long enough for someone else to have thought of the idea, and the building to begin. He imagined himself showing up on the building site, and showing his drawings as proof that he had been the first to think of it. He never considered the idea that they might have laughed at him not because they didn't believe him, but because it doesn’t matter.