There’s a business principle that talks about “embracing failure”. If you failed, it means you tried. And that’s a good thing.
There’s another way people celebrate failure.
When I was younger and played a lot of sports, I would succeed. And fail. Inevitably when I would fail people would celebrate it. My opponents I understood…but my friends…I never quite understood. Frankly it made me mad. It made me never want to fail. And…it made me…better.
…”there’s no evil, there’s only good taken to extreme”…
And so what was “good” was the motivation to get better. To be the best. What was “evil” was that failure no longer was an option.
I no longer allowed myself the grace and room to be human. To fail.
Sometimes watching golf on TV and a professional golfer hits a really bad shot. And I’ve heard so many times from people how much they like that because it makes them feel better about when they golf and do the same thing.
I look at it differently. I look at it and think what pressure that must be to play golf in front of live TV and hit a terrible shot like that for all the world to see.
On one hand…I get it. When we see someone really good at something do something so very average or unsuccessfully it makes them more relatable. More “human” and we can relate to that.
On the other hand…I don’t get it. How could people enjoy the failures of others. Why would my friends be happy that I failed. I have had failures and weak times in life. And while I’ve certainly had my share of support, more than I deserve, I’ve had my share of people who have enjoyed my weakness too much.
There was a time when Jesus showed “weakness”. He cried. He stressed. He was angry. And when I see those moments I am more connected to my savior. My God.
I hope that other’s failure is not something that makes us feel better about ourselves but instead draws out of us compassion for what is inevitably…a result of someone who tried….and a result of…being human.
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