Futility

I saw a good quote, today,  by Michael Jordan, that says, "To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail." I think that is a very good quote, but I think it is probably misunderstood by most that read it.

In order to learn how to fail, you have to be willing to admit something is a failure.  You have to admit that you have something to learn and to admit that what you did did not accomplish what you set out to accomplish.  Then, after that honest assessment, you need to accept constructive criticism, which... to be fair was not my strong suit in all my elementary school report cards... and to grow from it.

As I have matured, I am mu more willing to accept such criticism and to grow, not because I am broken and have no will left but because I recognized the futulity of it all.

There is a scene in a Matrix movie where Neo is talking with an elder, and he faults them for not being willing to take action to actually fix anything, because the elders sees a wider view of things and are driven by less passion.

Especially in the last years of my life, so far, I have realized that there is a lot of things in our lives that we never really had control to change.  It reminds me of the dterminism theory that is illustrated in the Devs series, but basically in the end it is just the half of the serenity prayer that says may I accept the things I cannot change.

We should take ownership of our lives and responsibility for them and do all that we need to do to enjoy those days, but part of doing that is to realize when a path or a choice is not fulfilling what we desire and to alter our course upon learning it.

In the Army, I was a gun driver in a howitzer, before I became a first sargent driver.  In that position, we would move to a location and then shoot and then learn from our failure how we needed to adjust to hit the target.  If we were unwilling to admit that we failed, we would spend all our time failing and potentially setting ourselves up for risk.  So, it is important to admit when something is futile.

So, as you proceed towards happiness, be willing to admit when avenues do not lead there and be willing to adjust your trajectory to get there, or you will fail to hit your mark and the only blame you can have for that is failing to learn.