Trista C
3/7/2013
This I Believe II Failure is something no one likes. I have learned over the years that failure is perceived as a bad thing. No one ever told me failure could be taken as a good thing. That was until I read a story in This I Believe II. The author explained why he liked failure and why failure could be a good thing. Forgiveness is something everyone should learn. Many people in our lives may do wrong to us and if we hold on to the hurt and anger we will never find happiness. I was one of those people who could hold a grudge forever, and then I realized that being happy was more important to me so I learned forgiveness (mainly with a little help). When I read a story in This I Believe II I realized the author had a life very similar to mine. It help me appreciate learning forgiveness. The first story that I enjoyed from This I Believe II is “Failure Is a Good Thing” written by Jon Carroll. In the first story Carroll is talking about his granddaughter starting her first day of kindergarten. Carroll says, “as is conventional, I wished her success.” “I was lying.” He also says later in the story, “Success is boring.” “Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do”, I like these quotes because you would never think of success as being a bad thing. I think Carroll was trying to say that doing something you already know isn’t something you fought for to achieve. I also believe Carroll thinks that if you don’t try to do something and work hard at it, you shouldn’t be awarded for it. Most of my life I’ve seen success as a good thing, to fail was always bad. The way Carroll put failure as being a good thing makes me realize that failure is healthy to your learning process in life, it can help you come back stronger the next time you try to achieve what you failed at doing the first or even the second time around. You should try to do things you know you are not good at, and yes you may fail the first few