Comments on Thought Bubbles: "Grumpy Old Man" thinks about... Failure

Of course in my day it was generally recognised th...

2007-03-28T13:20:00.000Z

Of course in my day it was generally recognised that a student was 'educated in the vacations from Cambridge' (or wherever).
Is there any evidence of deterioration on that front? That would be tremendously serious.
Gordon Neal

Dear Grumpy,I agree with Patti, and with the old a...

2007-03-28T09:38:00.000Z

Dear Grumpy,
I agree with Patti, and with the old adage that a person who never makes a mistake never makes anything.
The problem lies with fear of pain, and of the pain of failure - both giving it and receiving it.
You are told to pass all your dim-wits because we are busy protecting them from hurt - and ultimately from self-recognition - never easy.

In the same way modern 'health and safety' stops us, and especially our children, from taking risks and learning from them - both ways! It is sad - they are missing out on life.

Kit Widdows (another grumpy old man)

dear Grumpy Your TBubble brings to mind the curren...

2007-03-27T22:05:00.000Z

dear Grumpy
Your TBubble brings to mind the current case of a young woman who had had a bit too much to drink, and was dancing on the garage roof outside her window; she fell through the skylight and was badly injured. She is now suing her landlord for not telling her that she shouldn't dance on the roof after drinking. Oh dear...

We can all come up with these silly stories. But seriously...Karen Armstrong tells of the repeated failures in her life -- failing as a nun, as an academic etc. and then writing "A History of God" because she had failed at everything and had run out of anything else to try. Perhaps if she had "succeeded" as a mediocre academic, she would never have become a brilliant writer. In that sense, maybe the type of failure that says "you're not yet doing what you should do" or "you're not yet giving what you should give" is actually a blessing; and the type of success that says "I guess this is all you'll ever be capable of so I'd better pass you" is actually an injustice.

Patti Whaley