Failure

Failure is the word that no one wants to hear. Failure is what no one wants to experience. Failure is what no one wishes to see, but failure is what makes us stronger.

Failures lead to Success

Freshmen year I had decided to take honors biology and the teacher, who taught that class, was known to be extremely difficult. My mom always made sure to check if I was drowning in biology work or if the class was too advanced for me.  I know that she had the best intentions, but it felt as though I was constantly being checked on to see if I was going to fail, as if she expected it. So when I brought home three failed quizzes in a row and my mom pulled me to the side, it felt like a huge “I TOLD YOU SO”.  The end of the first semester was not even near and I felt like a failure.  We had a long argument over if I should drop the class or continue.  I said no matter what, I will continue and she walked away form the conversation, abandoning the support she had for me and adopting disappointment to take its place.  Even with failure peering over my shoulder I continued to work hard and study and stay attentive in class.  The next quiz I brought home was over 100%, the next test was an A, and I received third place and over  100% on my science fair project.  My failures at the beginning of the year and my mom making sure that I knew I was failing pushed me to perform better.  I worked so that I could prove them wrong, that the class was too easy for me instead of too difficult.

Image by Artpromotivate (quote by Vincent Van Gogh)

I do not believe that success is possible without the existence of failure.  Failure is the fuel that pushes everyone to succeed.  People have to fail over and over and over again until they figure out the right outcome.  The iPhone did not just appear, Rome was not built in one day, and the United States did not win every battle in WW2, but they still were on the winning side.

Image by US Navy

Personally, I know that I have had several failures in my life and some, such as my failures in school, have pushed me to try harder and do better.

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”

-Ernest Hemingway

If you do not know what failure looks like, just go to a high school or a college and look around at the students.  They fail everyday, whether it be a small failure or a huge one, but most push through the failure.  In the book I am currently reading, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, one of the main characters named Finch feels as though he failed his family and that is why is dad left them, because he was not good enough.  He is constantly talking about how he let others down and how he will disappoint the other main character, Violet. Failure can tear people down and some may not recover, but it does make them stronger even if they do not believe it.

   TED Talk

For my english class, we have created a unit question that asks: How does fear play a role in our failures and successes?  I believe that fear can have an affect on our failures because everyone fears failure.  We are unable to escape failure and that is not a fun idea to ponder, but failure is just part of life, failure is how we learn to succeed.

Four Letters, One Word

Four letters, one word: Love.

We are taught what love is at a very young age by our older relatives or peers.  So we have a general idea of love from the affection our parents show us and the Disney movies we have seen that usually have a princess finding true love with a prince in the matter of days or weeks.  In these type of movies or stories there is no truth to the story, there is no true meaning of love, there is only a false portrayal. To truly figure out what love really is, people need to experience so much more than just having a relationship with another boy or girl.  They should start by loving themselves and then their family because those two people will almost always love you back even if you do not think so.

The word “love” used to have such a strong meaning, but now it is said so often that most people, especially teenagers, do not understand what real love is.  Each individual develops a different view of love from the environment they have grown up in and what they experience in life.  Social media has corrupted the meaning of love by saying things such as: you have to be communicating with the person you “love” 24/7, the guy has to buy the girl gifts and serve her every need, and that you have to say “I love you” back to your partner even if you are not ready.

When you are in love, you should not feel obligated to buy the other person gifts.  When you are in love, you should want to. When you are in love, you should not feel pressured into saying that you love them back because for some people, love is more than texting into late hours and going on dates.

^“4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7New International Version (NIV))

In my AP English class, we have a question about how childhood upbringings influence how we love in our later years.  This question, which is the reason I wrote this blog post about love, can be answered and interpreted in several ways.  My interpretation stems from my own childhood experiences and what I have been told what love is.  When I was younger, love was this magical thing that happened in my princess movies and books.  In primary school, love was my parents and any other happy person in a relationship.  Since high school, love has become a dead word to me because I have seen so many people use it and end up heartbroken.  Saying the that word to another is like placing your heart into that person’s hands and not caring what they do with it. 

Broken Heart

 

So many people have told me different things about love and that I should be in love, but in high school I see no point.  It seems too risky of a move and really time consuming.  I believe that to truly be in love with another person besides your family and best friends, people need more life experience and at the age I am at, there is so much more experience we need to gain.