The Gift of Failure

When the fateful events aboard Apollo 13 threatened the crew and made the success of the mission highly questionable, the team on the ground needed a motivating rally to spur them on to accomplish the near-impossible. Lead Flight Director, Gene Kranz, declared that “Failure is not an option!”

While those words were the battle cry that rallied Mission Control to do what was needed to bring the craft and crew safely back to earth, the phrase has become an unfortunate hallmark of our culture. “Failure is not an option.”

We see it in the ruthless business practices that have been so visible over the past several years. We see it in pop culture. We see it in the faces of parents who come to blows over their children’s sporting events where the joy of playing has been replaced by the need to win at all costs.

What we seem to have forgotten in our quest to succeed is that those bumps in the road are all a part of the big picture. We learn far more from our failures than from our successes. And let’s face it, when things come too easily for us, we tend to take them for granted and forget what is truly important. In our race to succeed, in a society where failure is a terrible sin, we have forgotten that the road to success is paved with the failures of others. Those failures are the foundation upon which the future is built.

Failure is a gift even though we may protest that fact when we are the one in the midst of failure. The opportunity to learn from failure makes us stronger, better individuals. At age 67, Thomas Edison’s facilities were burned in a horrific fire. More than $2 million in assets were destroyed, and some feared that this devastating loss would be more than the inventor would be able to endure. Rather than slowing him down, however, he looked at the incident as an opportunity. As he stood looking at the remnants of the fire he stated, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up.” Three weeks later Edison delivered the first phonograph.

Theodore Roosevelt stated “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” Many of our great social and cultural leaders have suffered terrible failures. For example Abraham Lincoln had two businesses that were bankrupt, a nervous breakdown, and was defeated in 8 elections. One might wonder if he would have had the strength needed as president if he had not experienced so much failure earlier in his life.

Even Christ would be considered a dismal failure by today’s standards. He amassed no wealth, no possessions. Sure he had many faithful followers, but what real value would that hold today if there is no political or financial gain to be made?

How do we judge others? Is it by the car they drive? By the house they live in? Do we judge them according to the positions that they hold in our community? Or is it by the way that they live their lives? Can we look past the exterior to see the individual? Do we appreciate the mistakes and failures that others have endured and how those failures have made the individual a better person?

One man stated “I climbed the ladder of success only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall.” Personally, failure has helped me to know that my ladder is leaning against the right wall.