Letter from the editor

Why Fear Failure?

It's exam time and if you have tears to shed, prepare to shed them now. For that young boy who took his life away because he had failed in his exams. Or that young girl who did likewise, unable to bear the humiliation of failing (she didn't even wait for the results).

When sixteen-year-olds think of ending their lives, what can you say? Nothing that can lessen the suffering of their parents, or the cruelty of life. But, as someone said, this too shall pass. Nothing is the same always. We have to learn from the mistakes of others, of ours, and move on.

Tomorrow is really another day. Today is all we have. Yesterday will never return. So why fear the past? Why worry about the future? And why not make the most of what we have, that is today. Understand this and you will understand what life's struggles and triumphs are all about. That failure is only a passing phase in one's life. It belongs only to the past, so don't carry that baggage on and on, tomorrow and the day after and the day after the day after.

If you carry it (the baggage of failure), it will burden you more tomorrow, and the day after, till you fail again. But if you confine it to the dustbin of the past, you will not feel burdened. You will see life in a different light. You will understand what went wrong and why you should not do it.

That's how success arrives stealthily, unseen and unheard. It arrives, when you build upon your failures, when you learn from it, and when you put it practice the lessons failure teaches you. That is what is called as wisdom. Wisdom, doesn't come overnight. That's why success takes a while in coming.

The guy who got the first rank in school put in 6 hours of dedicated study, for 365 days. He's like any of us. He didn't start off getting the first rank from the day he entered school. He must have failed at some time. But he learnt the right lessons from it and became wiser. And thus successful.

Yes, there are a fortunate few who are brilliant right from day one. But they are a minority. However, in a way, they are also unfortunate. They have never seen failure. And so may not be able to take it. They don't have the chance to learn the all important life-lessons from it. Like the rest of us. So, after being successful throughout, one fine day when they fail for the first time in their lives, they don't know how to cope with it.

What does all this tell us? That we should not - never fear - failure. We should never think of dying. Life is too short, to cut it short. Whatever you are - top ranker, low grader, above average, average - forget everything. Study like there is no tomorrow, for a better tomorrow. Put everything into your effort, with 100% focus and you can never fail. Because, as you may have heard, success can not be spelt without u.

So, if you, by any chance, you have tears to shed (for your own failures), don't shed them….