Defining Failure

The class discussion we had Monday relating to the video we watched as well as the reading “Transcendental Wild Oats” got me thinking about how we, both individually and as a society, perceive and define failure. I realized that for me personally, I think of failure much differently than I think of success.

Firstly, for me failure is easier to attain than success. Getting a B on a test might be a failure if my goal was an A, but yet if I were to get an A, I might not consider it a success but rather just something that needed to be done. Another problem with failure for me personally is that it sticks out in my mind much more so that success does. In high school, I was a standout athlete and looking back I still remember more of my bad games and negative statistics more than the positive ones. My mom kept every single sports article that had my name in it and when I go back and re-read the articles, I’m amazed at some of the positive things I did. The same thing applies to grades; I still remember one test that I failed in sixth grade and had to get it signed by my parents. I couldn’t tell you if I did well on the next test or not, though I do remember I did well in the class overall. A piece of advice my father gave me that I will never, ever forget and which he mostly applied to sports, but it definitely can apply to life is: the most important thing to do when you make a mistake is focus on the next play (or in life, the next situation that comes your way).

From a societal point of view, I think the perception is similar. People tend to look at those who “fail” and say that person must be weak or incompetent. However, if people do well or “succeed” we say that is what they are supposed to do so we tend not to recognize them as much. I do think there are people who like to focus on the positives, but in general we will remember a person for their downfalls instead of theirs successes, no matter the ratio.

In Transcendental Wild Oats, they perceived their society as a failure, which by their description it clearly was. The interesting part to me is what they did after they left this community; I wonder whether they tried to experiment with this again, but making changes or modifications or if they just gave up the idea completely and continued to live with the rest of society. My dad’s advice could have come in to play towards the end as they were all sitting around discussing their failure. It may have been positive for them to hear that, while they did make a mistake, life was going to go on and they needed to focus on that future that was to come their way.