Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Sam's Best Understanding of Failure

Sam remembered that the last two times he played racquetball, he had melted into tears. As he played yesterday with joy and determination, the memory clearly shadowed him. Perhaps understanding "failure" is just as important as understanding "success." The following is his unsolicited evolution of thinking around the incident:

After 10 minutes of play: "I think I cried last time because I didn't have my own ball." (The two boys had one ball in play then, not two.)

After 25 minutes of play: "I think I cried before because I didn't really practice."

After 70 minutes of play: "I think I cried back then because I didn't believe I could do it."

2 comments:

Seda said...

Yeah. The need for competency is significant, and I think often under-rated. How much despair in our schools is born in a believe that the person isn't capable or competent at anything? No amound of self-esteem training will compensate for actual success/competency.

Anonymous said...

Hey girl,

Sam is wonderful. I hope you let us know what the deal is with him and the infection.

I'd write more, but I've been depressed (unusual for me) and busy and all that. Also stressed about the money/job situation. Ah life.

But I LOVE reading your blog. It gives me a bit of hope for humanity.

keep on writing, girl,
hugs
me