Emily Colebank
Life is Hard Chapter 4
Intro to Philosophy Section 11
Failure; How Do We Cope?
Failure. The word is very common in the world today. we are humans that fail and learn from those experiences. In the book "Life is Hard" by Kieran Setiya he philosophizes about how failure shouldn't be a negative culmination for people. He mentions how we all stagger towards wanting to hear stories from others on their own personal failures. He brings up his kid and how they're only wanting to know stories on how he flunked a test or sports defeats. We as people tend to find these stories humorous or you get to realize that we aren't flawless. As the stories are funny and a good conversation filler, I feel that we don't see the other side of this.
Society typically wants to hear about those failures. Is this really a way to live? We should be celebrating other stories were we feel confident in ourselves as well. Yes, we should feel safe to share our failures and insecurities but this shouldn't be the only stories being told. Josh Branca and Bobby Thompson, two very important names in the baseball world, both our known for there mistakes on the field. Setiya brings up the journal "the echoing Green" by Joshua Prager. He wrote that these two famous players had more to their life than the inaccuracy on the field. He mentioned Branca having a loving family and Thompson having a supportive brother and a father to his son. We should not see people for there mistakes more so, see them for overcoming an obstacle. How do we change society to think this way?
Setiya also mentions the life we are given shouldn't be seen as a project. He explained how he didn't regret his life choices but he did regret living it like it was just another project to finish. The novella writer Nicholas Baker wrote "The Mezzanine" which takes place on an escalator during lunch hour. it brings up the subject of tying your shoelaces, straws, etc. the central principle of this novella is that we should notice and take in the small things in life. it makes life worth living. living in a constant routine of working towards a big event will make you loose focus on taking a nice walk or making your lunch. He explains that we should notice the small things and it will make life much easier.
He does not mean that we shouldn't strive for success. Rather, strive for success but on the way take in your surroundings and things you enjoy. Focus on the journey, not the destination. He mentions a quote from Bhagavad Gita which tells us "motive should never be in the fruits of action". If we as people focus on the process we can protect ourselves from the hardship of failure. Failure will not last it should be seen as just a little bump in the road that could give you a minor set back.
I personally found myself reflecting a good amount over this chapter. We tend to overthink about failure and most of us can agree we are even scared of it. Maybe we can try and see it as a learning lesson and that one bad event or product will not affect your overall outcome. We should learn that it's a small bump in the road to success. Personally, we need to learn how to fail and cope with it to succeed in life.
" Focus on the journey, not the destination"-- in fact we should be able to do both. But the past is behind us, the future is uncertain; only the present is ever guaranteed, if we miss it we may miss everything. And it's helpful to remember what Edison said about his light bulb: the earlier attempts were not failures, they were occasions for learning what didn't work.
ReplyDeleteRemember to add links and other bloggish content. Nicholson Baker js an obvious candidate. And I for one never tire of seeing Bobby Thomson's famous Home Run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI7dVj90zs