The Failures are Among the Most Successful

            I felt proud of myself at the end of the first round of writing circles, because I had already completed my free reading book (not to rub it in anybody’s face).  The book I read was a biography of Abraham Lincoln, which I thought was moderately entertaining.  What particularly caught my attention was that while I never would have expected it in a biography, I believe that the biography had a strong moral at the center of it, which was that people who fail can often go on to be successful.

            You don’t have to be very observant to realize that Abraham Lincoln had an aptitude for failing.  In a small war known as the Blackhawk War, Lincoln entered the war as a captain, and returned a private- not particularly impressive for someone who would one day lead the Union in the Civil War as president of the United States.  During the Civil War, Lincoln was almost responsible for turning the Union against itself on multiple occasions.  But Lincoln didn’t stop failing there.  Lincoln failed twice in business, and as a result, he was left in a large debt.  And just when you thought Lincoln had run out of ways to fail, Lincoln managed to loose a total of eight political elections throughout his political career.  And yet, this man successfully maintained our country and is remembered as a great American hero.

            I was eager to see if Lincoln was alone, so I preformed some follow up research on other people who failed but were then successful.  I found myself faced with an overwhelming list of successful failures, but here are a few of my favorites.

There was a young man who tried out for basketball as a freshmen as Emsley A. Laney high school.  His coach was unimpressed with his talent, so as a freshman and sophomore, he played for junior varsity.  That man, Michael Jordan, went on to become one of the best (or the best) basketball player ever.

A young student was told by his teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything, but this student was not so easily to be swayed.  Today, Thomas Edison is well known for his inventions.

There was a man who very badly wanted to be an actor.  Unfortunately, he received insignificant roles in movies, which is why he became a self-taught carpenter.  But his life changed when he went to build cabinets for George Lucas.  Lucas eventually realized that his carpenter was born for the television screen, which is why we have the pleasure of seeing Harrison Ford in so many great movies.

            I believe that these failures are successful for two reasons.  First of all, people aren’t very good at analyzing who is talented; People get overlooked for various reasons.  Second, these failures only motivate these people to prove expose their critics for their ignorance.