The poor cartoon artist

A young, poor cartoon artist had a passionate dream of having his cartoons reach the lives of millions of people. He went to over eight of his local newspaper offices to speak with the editors about getting a job as their cartoonist, but he was told by all eight of those editors that he did not have enough talent as a cartoonist to have is work published in their paper.

The young cartoonist was disheartened about his rejections, but still held onto his dream and worked a part-time job while doing small art projects for local businesses inside a mice-infested shed at the back of a church.

One particularly lonely night, the cartoonist was working on some drawings for the local church when a small mouse ran across his desk. The bold little mouse stopped halfway on his desk, stood up on his hind legs, and looked straight at the cartoonist. As depressed as the cartoonist was, he could not help but laugh at the little mouse and began several sketches to capture that funny moment.

Those sketches later were the inspiration for the cartoon character known the world over as Mickey Mouse, and the cartoon artist--You guessed it--was Walt Disney, who later built a billion-dollar empire off a dream with the help of a small little mouse.