Tag Archives: success

thoughts on failure

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For those of you who “regularly” read my blog… I apologize, I have nearly abandoned my passion for political commentary and nuanced discussion due to my hectic work schedule, my desire for fellowhip, and a series of unfortunate events that have taken alot out of me the past 6 months.  You will be pleased to know then that I hope to resume blogging on a much more regular schedule from this day forward.

I did want to pass along a short story, however, in the hopes that it might be just as much of an encouragement to you as it has been to me.  Today at work, a co-worker handed me a book and thought I would get a kick out of the rather crazy writing style of the author (which is itself almost an oxymoron when it comes to books about marketing… but I digress)

In a chapter discussing experimentation and failure in the business world, he referred to a quote by Michael Jordan… it really floored me:

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life…

… and that is why I succeed.

- Michael Jordan

There is some degree of comfort to be garnished from someone who has failed so often… but who has persevered through those failures to become a success… I think we can all learn from that.

Suckers…

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Democrats Then:

  • efforts to stabilize the country had been a “complete failure” - Senator Barak Obama
  • the surge “is a failure,” - Senator Nancy Pelosi
  • the troop buildup “is a failure” – Senator Biden
  • the surge was an “absolute failure” – Ron Paul (ya, I know he isn’t a democrat but he was still wrong)

Democrats NOW:

  • More American troops have brought more peace to more parts of Iraq. I think that’s a fact. – Dick Durbin
  • The military aspects of President Bush’s new strategy in Iraq … appear to have produced some credible and positive results. – Carl Levin
  • We’ve begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar Province, it’s working. – Hillay Clinton

I don’t need to add any commentary to this… I am vindicated.

Oh, and this in the New York TImes:

You know you’ve got a great blog when…

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… the Wall Street Journal Editoral Board echos the sentiments you have been blogging about for weeks.  This just in from Dorothy Rabinowitz:

Michelle Obama has left little doubt about her views on American society, and its people… the wife of the candidate told crowds that she was, for the first time in her life, “proud” of her country… It was obvious, nontheless, that this was no blip, no failure to express her real thought.  She said exactly what she’d wanted to say… The comment reflected her deeply held, grim view of American society, one she was accustomed to sharing with others who thought likewise.

She recently waxed irate over the American attention to security interests, arguing that we should be “changing the conversation” and building diplomatic relations “instead of protecting ourselves against terrorists“.  

A New Yorker profile published last week quotes numerous stump speech pronouncements, among them Mrs. Obama’s assertion that most Americans’ lives have gotten worse since she was a girl.  ”So if you want to pretend like there was some point in the last couple decades when your life was easy, I want to meet you.“

In short, not only is existence in America a deserate proposition for most citizens –anyone claiming to have led a satisfactory one not sunk in the hell that is American life is, quite simply, lying.  America is, she has elsewhere informed audiences, a nation whose “souls are broken“.

Whatever America’s faults, we are certainly not a nation of “broken souls”, a nation where every day is some impassable hurdle, a nation needing the generous hand of some benevolent Democrat dictator.  It is almost beyond explanation how someone who has done so well in this country can still have such a pessimistic attitude toward it’s people and government.  

And what are we supposed to make of her “I want to meet you” quote?  Does she really WANT to meet someone who has had easy times in their lives?  She might want to spit in their face to spite them; no other reason seems that plausible. But this really begs the question: why is a hard life so unbearable for her?  Playrights have been exploring the tragedy of the human condition for Centuries… wouldn’t an educated woman such as Ms. Obama would have been sensible enough to grasp this fundamental truth instead of ‘hoping’ that her husband can change the human condition?  

Is a Government pouring money on our problems (which is all it can do for people)… going to make us Happier?  Is our life now really comparable to the lives our grandparents experienced during World War II?  Is it really of such a nature to complain about? 

Well, Michelle, Feel free to come and meet me anytime. If you Vant… I am here*.  I have had a few easy times over the past couple decades and would be more then happy to tell you what a great country I live in.

*[wait for it... it's worth it] 

Good Times.co.uk reading…

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Interestingly, I was browsing the times.co.uk website and behold… I was surprised how many really good articles there were.  Here’s one I wanted to bring your attention to:

Al-Qaeda leaders admit: ‘We are in crisis. There is panic and fear’

Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an “extraordinary crisis”. Last year’s mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military “created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight”. The terrorist group’s security structure suffered “total collapse”.


The Anbar letter conceded that the “crusaders” – Americans – had gained the upper hand by persuading ordinary Sunnis that al-Qaeda was responsible for their suffering and by exploiting their poverty to entice them into the security forces. Al-Qaeda’s “Islamic State of Iraq is faced with an extraordinary crisis, especially in al-Anbar“, the unnamed emir admitted.


In an apparent reference to al-Qaeda’s brutal tactics, he said of the Americans and their Sunni allies: “We helped them to unite against us . . . The Americans and the apostates launched their campaigns against us and we found ourselves in a circle not being able to move, organise or conduct our operations.“

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