The Fear of Failure

           

 The Author Kieran Setiya speaks on the idea of failure in chapter four of his book Life Is Hard How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way. Specifically looking at the way it is viewed and depicted today while considering different ideas about how life is a narrative.

Failure by its definition is a lack of success or inability to meet an expectation. Yet the view of failure has become so skewed that children are bombarded with constant expectations that they must succeed from a young age, or they will fail in life. Constant worry of failure has created unrealistic expectations for the youth, increasing their anxiety and lowering their mental health. With this fear of failure that has never been so pronounce in society until this generation of social media.

Kieran Setiya Author and Philosopher.

The narrative told to the children of this age, is that their life will suck if they do not focus on their career. This mindset is derived from telic values and does not value the atelic aspects of life that involve living in the present and enjoying life (LH 106). People are taught to live their life as if they are finishing a project and must go on a linear path when life in practice is not linear in any way. When we read books or watch TV shows, the path is never clear and that’s what keeps the viewer interested and continues to watch the show. This same concept can be applied to our lives, as it is the idea of free will that keeps us engaged within our lives. With a non-linear story line there are of course failures, yet these failures do not end the story as some would think. In most stories, there is always an opposition to the protagonist that drives the plot. The protagonist may mess up, may fail, but it is the common message of determination and willpower that is found in plenty of our literature today. One of the most successful authors was J.K Rowling, and before her success everyone would have deemed her a failure when looking at her life before her first book.

The truth about failure is that it is acceptable and should be expected of people. Humans are not made perfectly or equally. Failure is a part of life, and it is something each person will have to face at some point in their life. It is not meant to scare us into depravity, but to encourage us to push forward. The actor Denzel Washington has given speeches to graduating young adults to inspire them, and his speech was built around the idea of failing but pushing forward.  When most think of a graduation speech, they do not think the speech would be about failing. Yet nothing was more true nor inspiring when he stated, “Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments, yet his one-thousand and first experiment was the light bulb, every failure is one step closer to success.". A clear representation that life does not end at failure, but merely perseveres to the next segment of the story. Denzel Washington- "If you don't fail, you're not even trying."

Identity is a big topic with people today, always searching for something to define ourselves by. A growing number of people are labeling themselves or others as failures in life. A notion that should never be pushed onto others or ourselves. A person’s happiness in life is truly what matters to determine whether a person has had a good life. The toxicity towards failing and defining others by their failures is only meant to bring people down. A person that never deserved to be labeled by his failure was Fred Snodgrass who I found out about through the “Snodgrass Muff” (LH 91). This was a man who at the world series finale of 1912 in baseball failed at catching a ball that cost his team the game. This was a sad moment for the team, and the player himself, but it did not define him in any way as he still lived a full and loving life. Yet quite sickeningly, in an obituary about him from The New York Times, they only mentioned him by his failure. A man that made it to the professional leagues of baseball and made it all the way to the championship being disrespected for a failure he had at one moment in his life. It is why I argue against the idea of fearing failure or pushing people to fear failing, as without failure we cannot succeed to a better tomorrow.  

    Fred Snodgrass the Professional baseball player.