Home ›› 15 Nov 2022 ›› Editorial
Robert Bruce was the king of Scotland under the rule of an English king. He wanted to make Scotland a free country. He fought many battles but was defeated many a by his enemy. He fled from the battlefield and hid himself in a cave to save his life. He had no more courage to fight another battle. In the cave, the king saw a spider. The spider was hanging with a thin thread.
It was about to reach its cobweb when it fell to the ground. He tried, again and again, to climb up to reach its web, and every time it failed. But it did not give up its efforts. At last, it succeeded in reaching a lesson from the spider. He gathered his lost courage and learnt a lesson from the spider. He gathered his army once again. He decided in defeating his enemy. Though this entire episode is based on history but used like a modern day fable. We come through a very basic philosophy of life be it in business or other aspects of life through this story. Yes, we always use the phrase “Failure is the pillar of success.”
We often look at great people—scientists, entrepreneurs, writers, artists and world leaders in awe. We’re blinded by their achievements. We can’t look past their talent. We think that they’re lucky that they’ve been given gifts that enable them to be the best. What we don’t see is the most important aspect of their personalities—perseverance and constant improvement. There is not a single ‘great man’ out there who has not worked hard despite failing multiple times. What sets great people apart from other people is their attitude towards failure.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”, said Thomas Edison, the inventor of the first incandescent light bulb.
Edison and his colleagues tested over 3,000 designs for the light bulb over a span of more than two years before finally arriving at an optimum design. He spent years learning from what didn’t work and perfecting the design. Had he given up at the 2999th attempt, we wouldn’t have had the design that led to the advanced lighting technology of today. There are millions of ways to fail at something and only a few ways to succeed. Once we have tried and failed millions of times, we are bound to be successful. It is only a matter of patience and perseverance.
All of these instances display the indomitable spirit of people who have excelled in their field. We see that by constantly improving our idea, we can succeed. But besides perseverance, there is another aspect to success.
Failure does not mean that our ideas are not good. Sometimes, when the idea is novel, society may have a difficult time accepting it. Sometimes, we just need one more chance to prove that our idea will work. We don’t always have to modify our ideas. Sometimes, they are already perfect.
Fables are characterised by their moral lessons. These short tales were once passed down as folklore to teach listeners the difference between right and wrong, give advice on proper behaviour and manners, and offer maxims to live by. A number of colloquial phrases are derived from fables, such as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and “sour grapes.” When someone says the word fable, most of us immediately think of Aesop and possibly flashback to a popular fable like The Tortoise and the Hare. Fables are a type of folktale passed down through generations of retelling in the oral tradition.
Although fables typically employ animals to portray characters, the fact that these stories are passed down over generations in different cultures, highlights the diversity of our world. By experiencing stories from different cultures, children can discover valuable insights about another group’s values, beliefs, history, practices and customs.
When children learn about other cultural traditions, it broadens their view of the world. In fact, it isn’t unusual for fables to stimulate children to learn more about their own cultural traditions or become curious about their family’s heritage and personal history.
The oral tradition of fable in India may date as far back as the 5th century BCE.
The Panchatantra, Sanskrit compilation of beast fables, has survived only in an 8th-century Arabic translation known as the Kalīlah wa Dimnah, named for two jackal-counselors (Kalīlah and Dimnah) to a lion king.
It was translated into many languages including Hebrew, from which in the 13th century John of Capua made a Latin version. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, Chinese Buddhists adapted fables from Buddhist India as a way to further the understanding of religious doctrines. Their compilation is known as Bore jing. The Western tradition of fable effectively begins with Aesop, a likely legendary figure to whom is attributed a collection of ancient Greek fables.
Modern editions contain up to 200 fables, but there is no way of tracing their actual origins; the earliest known collection linked to Aesop dates to the 4th century BCE. Among the Classical authors who developed the Aesopian model were the Roman poet Horace, the Greek biographer Plutarch etc.Many times, we classify the fables all the same. But the truth is that there are different types of them. Specifically, you can find 7 different ones, which are the following:
Animal Fables: They are the most common, where relationships are established between animals, humans, gods ... but really the protagonists are the animals. In many of them they have human traits, such as the fact that they speak, think, etc. and they are put in situations that are more common to people than to animals.
Human fables: They can also occur, where, in this case, human beings are the protagonists of the story and those who tell what happens to them. In this case, humans are related to other humans, animals, gods, inert beings ... In reality they are not limited to other characters.
Fables of the plant kingdom:- As with the previous ones, in this case the protagonists are plants and, as with animals, they are also given traits more focused on humans (such as talking, moving, thinking ...).
Mythological:- In the case of this type of fable, you will meet deities protagonists, that is, they will be powerful gods who, either give lessons with their wisdom, or they themselves learn something from others, be they animals, humans, other gods, etc.
Inert things: Whether objects or things, these too can be part of fables. In this case, an example might be the Tin Soldier, an inanimate toy yet telling a story.
Agonal: These are not well known, but they are another type of them. They refer to opposing characters, that is, there is a protagonist and an antagonist and the end of the fable leads us to reward those who do well and punish the other. In this case, it is not so important who the protagonist is, but what happens and especially the final lesson, in terms of rewarding the good and punishing the bad.
Etiological: This type refers to those that refer to historical situations. In this case, the characters themselves are not as important as the events they relate in a way that helps the story to be known but in a more entertaining way.
When we think about failure, we think of things in a negative light. We say that failure is painful and that it causes emotional turmoil and upset, and inflict agonising pangs of guilt, regret, and remorse. But, for those that have known true failure, and have bounced back from it, understand that failure in life is necessary for success. Sure, failing hurts. In fact, it cuts deep like a razor, slicing its way to our inner core. Yet, it’s necessary. In life, it’s necessary to fail. Failure is a steppingstone.
In fact, there are 5 very powerful life lessons that failure helps to teach and instill in us. If you’ve recently failed at something in a major way, and you’re going through a difficult time right now, keep these important lessons in mind.
The first important lesson gained from failure is experience.
What happens when we fail? When we go through something and can walk away with first-hand experience, it helps us to develop a deeper understanding for life.
The experience of failing at something is truly invaluable. It completely alters our frame-of-mind through the induction of pain.
It makes us reflect on the real nature of things and their importance in our lives, transforming and improving our future-selves.
Failure brings with it important first-hand knowledge. That knowledge can be harnessed in the future to overcome that very failure that inflicted so much pain in the first place. Nothing can replace the knowledge gained from failure.
When Thomas Edison famously failed nearly 10,000 times to create a commercially viable electric lightbulb, with each failure, he gained the knowledge of just one more avenue that didn’t work. It was the accumulated knowledge developed from nearly 10,000 failed attempts that ultimately led to his success.
Failing in life helps to build resilience. The more we fail, the more resilient we become.
In order to achieve great success, we must know resilience. Because, if we think that we’re going to succeed on the first try, or even the first few tries, then we’re sure to set ourselves up for a far more painful failure. The characteristic of resilience can help us in so many ways in life. Resilience helps to breed success by setting the game up to win. Gone are the lofty expectations that thing will happen overnight, and in comes the expectations that true success will take an enormous amount of work and effort.
When we fail, we grow and mature as human beings. We reach deeper meanings and understandings about our lives and why we’re doing the things that we’re doing. This helps us to reflect and take things into perspective, developing meaning from painful situations.
Life is designed for us to grow and improve. From the very genetic fibers that make us into who we are as individual persons, into the fabric of society on a global scale, growth is a fundamental part of us. Without growth, we couldn’t improve life on every front.
One of the biggest lessons that we can learn from life’s failures is the necessity to create and spread an exceedingly high amount of value. In fact, value lies at the heart of success and a lack of value is a fundamental pillar to failure.
In thinking about your past failures, think about how much value you brought to the table. Could you have offered more value? Would that have prevented failure? When you learn to create immense value, and do so consistently, you will eventually succeed. There are many ways to recover from failure. Once you understand what failure is, and how it’s meant to serve us rather than hinder us, you’ll free your mind and open your heart to experience the joy of failure.
The writer is MD and CEO of Community Bank.
He can be contacted at masihul1811@gmail.com
