The Success of Failure – Sunday, February 14, 1982
To some extent, what Charles Dickens concluded about his time in the Tale of Two Cities, is also true about the present age. These too, may be construed by some, to be “the best of times…” and “the worst of times”.1
Obviously, the degree of misfortune among our populace does not match the adversity of time past. Starvation and extreme poverty, at least in this country, are relatively unknown.
In an economic sense, though, many individuals are experiencing difficult times. In the face of apparent prosperity, hundreds of small businesses have had to close their doors during the last year or two. Large corporations are also having their share of problems; layoffs and production slow downs are becoming commonplace. And a large percentage of individual wage earners, especially those supporting families, are having a burdensome time making ends meet.
Through all of this, we are not to despair or become overly discouraged. Difficulties, and even failures, are only disheartening when they are viewed as ends in themselves. But when they are seen as they are, as means towards other successes, they then become opportunities.
“We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures were successes,” wrote Alcott.2 To this Keats added “Failure is…The Highway to Success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some error which we shall afterward avoid.”3
Adversity is the steppingstone to success. Continuous prosperity without the strengthening force of opposition breeds complacency and softness. Through adversity, new talents are discovered, talents which may have lain dormant otherwise.
Adversity and economic stress are also the parents of invention. We invent substitutes for what we cannot afford. No doubt, the declining reservoir of fossil fuels will produce numerous and more efficient alternatives.
Yes, prosperity teaches, but the greater teacher is adversity. Through her we learn prudence and frugality; through her we learn to value that which cannot be bought. In bracing ourselves against the strong winds of adversity we develop a greatness of soul which cannot be secured through entire lifetimes of success and prosperity.
1 Dickens, Charles, A Tale of Two Cities, Book 1, Chapter 1 (from Familiar Quotations, p 497. little Brown 1838).
2 Alcott, A.B. The New Dictionary 0f Thoughts, “Failure,” p. 197, Standard Book Company, 1965.
3 Keats, John, The New Dictionary 0f Thoughts. “Failure,” p. 197, Standard Book Company. 1965.
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February 14, 1982
Broadcast Number 2,739