CELEBRATING
FAILURE
by
Crying Wind
When
my children were young, they tried to do many things.
They succeeded at some things and failed at others. We
always celebrated the victories but we also celebrated
the failures.
My
daughter, Spring Storm, wanted to run fast. She joined
the school track team and entered all the events. The
night of the races, all the children on her team were
at the starting line. The mile long race began and they
all ran as fast as they could. My daughter ran as fast
as she could and not only came in last—she was only
halfway around the track when the rest of the team crossed
the finish line. She was half a mile behind even the slowest
runners.
She
could have quit, but she didn't. She kept running, slowly
and alone. She finally reached the finish line almost
two minutes behind everyone else.
What
other people didn't know was that my daughter has asthma
and painful back problems. When she entered the race,
she knew she couldn't win and that she'd probably come
in last. She entered four events and came in last every
time.
When
we got home, we celebrated as much or more than if she'd
won the First Place trophy. Her victory was knowing she
couldn't win the race - but running anyway.
Over
the years we have celebrated all our failures with just
as much enthusiasm as any of our victories. We've celebrated
losing jobs, broken romances, cancelled weddings, and
big and small disappointments.
It's
easy to celebrate winning, hard to celebrate losing but
the truth is, in life, most of us will fail more often
than we win.
My
friend, Becky had worked at the bank 16 years. She liked
her job and expected to stay there until she retired,
but the new manager fired her. She came to my house in
tears, hurt and embarrassed that she'd been fired.
I
told her we'd celebrate the loss of her job and her new
freedom. I called some friends who brought food and within
an hour we had a wonderful party. An hour earlier Becky
felt like it was the end of the world. Now she was laughing
and feeling the freedom to try something new. She got
some special training and now works with children who
have trouble reading. She loves her new job.
Celebrate
the failures.
The
best time to celebrate is when you least feel like it.
My
son and his girlfriend broke up after dating three years.
It was a hard decision for both of them. They celebrated
the happy times they'd had in the past together and they
celebrated the new but different and separate paths their
lives had taken for the future.
Celebrate
failure. Celebrate rainy days, flat tires, lost jobs,
burned toast, broken eggs and broken hearts.
Failure
doesn't mean you have failed—Failure means you had
the courage to try.
