The most difficult words in the English language....

Yesterday was supposed to be a big day...

My son Chris turned 16 on Wednesday and had an appointment to take his driving test yesterday. His mom was going to take him to take the test, after that I was going to take him to the insurance office to get the insurance changes, we were going to go eat dinner to celebrate his birthday together and then go to Sarah's basketball game. It was going to be a big day.

We had a 'wintery mix' of weather here in Nashville yesterday, so I called to find out if he was still going to take the driving test. I found out that he was so I headed to Lebanon to continue the day's planned festivities. While I was on the way, I got a phone call, it was Chris, the conversation went like this...

"How are you doing?"
"Not Good."
"Why?"
"She failed me."
"Why?"
"I drove too fast, you aren't supposed to drive the speed limit when its raining."

I then went into father mode and talked about handling failure, he was very angry, he didn't want to go out to eat and obviously, we couldn't go get insurance. The wintery mix forced the game to be canceled. All of the big plans fell through.

So, what are the most difficult words in the English language? "I failed"

I don't mean to brag but...
Chris has always been gifted athletically. He's fast and has great hand eye coordination. When he was playing baseball in the little league years, he was the only 11 year old to make the 11-12 year old All-Star team. There are a bunch of very gifted athletes in his age group and the team did very well. They made it to the Tennessee State Championship, but lost.

The next year, he changed from Little League to the local Dixie Youth league. He made the All-Star team as a 12 year old. Again, there is a group of very gifted athletes, they made it to the State Championship again, and lost again.

His reaction to losing that game was heartbreaking, he was crushed. In his mind, he was a failure. I kept telling him....

"Do you realize that you are the only boy in the area that has played in two State Championship games?"

"But, we lost them both"

He felt like a failure, I saw it as a tremendous achievement, some day I hope he sees that.

Teenagers aren't the only ones
This morning, the news channels are buzzing about the Senate's rejection of the automaker's "Rescue Package" (formerly known as a bailout). The auto maker's are forecasting a very dark day for the economy and blaming the Senate.

This may be a very dark day, the auto industry is a very large part of our economy, but I'm pretty sure that it isn't the Senate's fault.

I've become quite familiar with failure this year. It has been a tough year, but, one of the most important things about failing, is learning from it. In my children's athletic pursuits I always tell them "You learn more from losing than from winning".

I've posted this quote several times here, but it is something I think of often...

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt