Opus 2022-135: Bloopers Becoming Bloomers

A famous quote is attributed to Edison, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”  I wonder how long he had to ponder to come up with that response.  Maybe he had to answer to his failure 10,000 times before he found the one we remember.

Success too early can be a foundation for failure.  I think of all the one-hit wonders who recorded music when I was a kid.  Or think of the child actors who went on to supreme mediocrity for the rest of their lives.  Their only contributions today are those click bait pictures on the web pages telling you how shocked you will be at what they look like now.  

Just because something doesn’t work does not mean it was a failure.  If the failure caused pain that will certainly remind you not to do it again.  If you were trying something that required a turn to the right and you went left you found the secret to success.  You also don’t know the long term effects of what you have done.  God created Adam and Eve and they failed.  It was the result of free will, was a mistake for the first couple but not a failure on God’s part.  Jesus would have been considered a failure on Good Friday but His resurrection changed the world.  

So hang in there.  Your children may be less that a source of pride today but that doesn’t mean the groundwork was not laid for late bloomers.  Sometimes it is the crisis that brings out the hero.

homo unius libri