In 2008, I lost the college debate for the first time in 9 years. Later that day I got a text message from one of my teachers. It simply said: "It is good to lose sometimes". I have never forgotten that message till today.
Failure sometimes can be more important than success. Failure spurs us to improve, to rectify our shortcomings. Failure is important. Like we learn from our physical bruises, emotional failure is also a great teacher.
Perhaps, failure is a crucial rite of passage, a part of growing up. I remember my numerous failures over the years with alarming accuracy.Ive come to the conclusion that it is important, perhaps necessary, to have these failures.
I wonder if those who have never failed an exam, know what it feels like? The crushing imploding feeling within. The shame, the anger. The grit and the resolve that follows. And the sweet success, almost akin to revenge.
I remember losing friends. Sometimes due to my own mistakes,at other times not so. Now I'm a little more careful, more circumspect.
What about matters of the heart then? This is perhaps the most important failure that one needs to experience in life. Only someone who has experienced this will understand what I mean. This failure can change you completely. It brings you to a fork on the road where you can go in one of many directions. It may give you inner strength. It may make you a hard cynic. Or make you lose the faith. It may crush you. Or it may lift you. But all these roads eventually make you a better person.You realize the value of the person you are with. Just maybe, you swallow the angry ,harsh sentence that has come to the tip of your tongue. If you do, thank your stars. Thank your past.
I have nothing against you if you haven't tasted failure before. In fact, all the more power to you. But life isn't all about the wins, the No.1s, the successes.
Failures have their own place in the grand scheme of things. HE knows it. After all, HE designed it.
