Failure Is a Good Thing. So Is Success.
In Jon Carrolls essay “Failure is a Good Thing,” he discusses his belief that success is overrated and how he thinks our failures should be better appreciated. Carrolls belief is that one must live life without being afraid to fail because doing so gives us the power to take risks and do things that have never been done before. He believes our failures are how we learn to deal with lifes problems, and the mistakes we make along the way give our successes credibility. On the other hand, he thinks success is boring and that “first time success is usually a fluke.” I agree that our failures need to be appreciated more, but theres no reason why our success should be underappreciated as well. Carrolls essay emphasizes his belief that our failures should never go overlooked and that our failures should be seen as an excuse to let loose and take risks. I believe this as well because our failures are what help us learn many of life??™s lessons. In his essay, he mentions an African phrase that describes a good cook as ???she who has broke many pots.??? He goes on to say that a person who has broken lots of pots has probably spent a lot of time in the kitchen, and with that said , probably knows a lot about cooking. I believe his assumption is absolutely correct. As soon as he mentioned that phrase, I could not help but think of myself. I have broken more pots, pans, and dishes and I have ruined more than just few meals. I constantly struggled with how long dishes needed to be cooked, so many of my meals along the way tended to be way overdone or extremely undercooked. For years I would second guess myself and pull things out of the oven too soon or let them sit on the stove for too long. After ruining meals for a while, I came to the realization that I had no business in the kitchen until I became sure of myself and stopped second guessing my skills. Now, I??™m one of the best cooks I know. After failing enough times, you learn to change what has been done wrong in the past to guarantee success in the future. Jon Carroll discusses in his essay that he believes success is overrated because our failures are how we learn. Our failures may be how we learn, but success is not overrated and it is never boring. I honestly believe that feeling like I have succeeded is one of the greatest feelings, and the fact that I??™ve failed in the past makes that success so much sweeter. I spent the bulk of my high school years skipping class and never doing my work, so of course, by the time my senior year came around, I had a lot of ground to cover. Things went well for the first couple of months, but eventually, I fell into my old habits and started slacking. Half way through my second semester, I was told by my principle there was a very high chance I wouldnt be able to join my peers at graduation, so for the next few months I did my very best to actually attend class and bring up my grades. I was kept guessing as to whether I would walk the stage or not until the day before my graduation. As I walked the stage the next day, I had never felt anything so amazing. I had successfully obtained a high school diploma. Carroll says success is proving you are capable of doing things you??™ve done in the past. I see where hes coming from, but success of this magnitude had never been possible for me before the day I graduated. Success is what drives a person to keep going, and succeeding at one thing gives you the will to keep on succeeding in everything you do. And that sort of thing never gets boring.
Ones failures should never be overlooked and they should always be appreciated because failing is how we learn. But a person should never be quick to undermine the importance of ones success because success is also important to the learning process. If we continually felt like we were failing, we would eventually start to never appreciate our success. Carroll was correct when he said failure is a good thing, but success is will never be a bad thing.
“Failure Is A Good Thing.” Morning Edition. NPR, San Francisco. 9 Oct. 2006. Radio.
