Failure is a Lesson
By Bradley Aka
A wise man and his disciples gathered around in a room. The disciples were laughing and dancing and making merriment when the wise man posed a question to them.
“My friends, we will discover who is the wisest of you all today. How many times should it take a wise man to learn from a single mistake?”
The disciples, eager to flaunt their wisdom, blurted out answers.
“Five times, wise one! The same mistake can come in various forms and be almost impossible to discern from another mistake.”
“Three times, wise one! Three is the number that it takes for one to internalize even the tiniest of mistakes.”
There was an older disciple in the back of the room that kept quiet through the screaming and shouting of numbers.
“One time, wise one,” he said with a calm assurance. “One personal experience with a mistake is all that one needs to learn from it and then avoid it.”
The wise man smiled.
“I am afraid that none of you have truly become wise. A true wise man does not have to experience a mistake to learn from it, but a wise man should be observant and learn from the mistakes of others around him.
The disciples later disbursed, carrying this new wisdom with them throughout their days.
When I was younger I lived in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which is the center of the middle of nowhere. We lived in an apartment that was just big enough for the three of us—me and my brother had clothes that were just enough for the two of us. Nobody knew what poverty was at that age because no one cared about what poverty was at that age. See all we cared about was video games and playing kickball in the courtyard and shooting basketball at the tree trunks and eating way too much candy and getting in the house before the streetlights came on and jumping off of the second-floor balcony ledge and completing a tumble after you landed. Those were our pastimes and those were the only things that mattered (besides what food my dad was going to make, which always seemed to be rice and stew). See jumping from the balcony ledge was by far the coolest pastime we had. The whole complex would come and watch kids front-flip off of the balcony, holding their breath for the descent, and breaking out in uproar as they stuck their successful landing. Most landings were successful, kids completed backflips, and cartwheels off of this balcony and they became my heroes. This was our personal Cirque du Soleil that took place in our Pine Bluff complex and I was hellbent on participating. I had finally mustered up the courage to jump. I had planned on jumping after my neighborhood friend Brandon! Brandon lined his body up with the balcony, mounted, and......slipped. The edge of the balcony must have gotten wet from an inadvertent water spill that resulted in Brandon taking an awkward fall leading to a broken arm. I immediately panicked and backed off the balcony, never again attempting to jump off, and learning from the mistakes of my childhood friend.
Not only should watching one crash and burn to be enough to avoid the same path to destruction, but hearing stories of others who crashed and burned should be enough to avoid that path to destruction. Not only should we be observant in order to avoid the mistakes taken by others around us, but we should also be open to sharing our mistakes and the mistakes of others (with consent). When I saw Brandon break his arm, I warned my brother, my neighbors, and my friends, and who knows how many injuries that were avoided. Be open in sharing your missteps and failures because who knows how many people can be in line behind you, waiting to follow your lead and make the same mistake.
