It's easy when you know how

Columbus is challenged by others questioning whether what he did was really so great.

...

Lord F: Christopher, let me suggest something. There are many of us who could have done what you did.

Christopher: Did?

Lord F: Sailing to the New World. We all know the stars, we all have a sense of adventure.

Christopher: Probably.

Lord F: So what did you do that was special?

Christopher: Pass me an egg. Now, can someone stand this egg on its end, with no support?

(All try, all fail, the egg rolls over.)

Christopher: Watch.

(Christopher drops the egg gently on its end, crushing it slightly, it stands.)

Christopher: You see, it’s easy when you know how.

____________

Voiceover

Great rejoinder. Great way counteract detractors.

Genius finds the way, mortals can follow.

Did Columbus think of the egg example first? Could it have been Filippo Brunelleschi 15 years earlier when officials asked to see how he proposed to erect the Firenze Duomo?

...