The sun sets on another day…
Funny how the sun never fails to come up. Funny.
Once upon a time I knew a man named William. William was a great teacher and taught martial arts in a manner that was pretty honest and amazing. Our discussions were often deep and on philosophy (I am sure you can’t imagine that, lol) but the curious thing about William is though he was skilled beyond belief, he did not avoid talking about his failures as much as his successes. Sure, he taught me a lot, but he taught me a lot about failure. As we were practicing with a sword one day he laughed and said to just be repetitive, trust yourself, avoid fear, and know your sword. His moves were flawless as he showed them to me but as he continued, he stopped and showed me a scar on his arm.
He said, once he was at a competition. He had rushed to a meet and but in his haste he had forgotten his ceremonial sword for the competition. He did have a full blade that was quite sharp and took it in since it was all he had. He was then ready for the tournament. When his turn came he was perfect. Each move was textbook and as he whipped the blade over and over he finally came to a stop he got cheers, but realized he also felt his arm was a little wet. As the applause kept going he looked down to a small pool of blood and realized in the heat of the competition he had swung the blade through a small piece of skin on his elbow. (No, it was not bad, just one of this overly sharp cuts you don’t feel) He didn’t say if he won or lost, but he did say he failed that time to do everything as he should have and he wore the scar for it. He never ran late again, and always was ready.
His moral, sometimes you are not perfect, and in the process of doing anything, be aware that you could always fail(or bring the wrong sword). Just learn from that mistake.
In life we sometimes see things and think things are great, and sometimes they are, but we must not be disheartened if we fail, instead we need to believe in ourselves and realize when we fail it teaches us(Like to bring the right sword). We sometimes need to make mistakes so that we can learn, be better people, and maybe understand something a little more than we did at the start. (and not be late either)
So as the sun sets on another day, don’t play with sharp swords, er, I mean, don’t be afraid of failure, forge on even though there may be danger, make a difference and in the process maybe learn something new. (Looking back at it, I am glad I did not cut my arm off, as the conversation came up because my sword was razor sharp.)
Sleep sweet, avoid fear, and find your way to success through failure every time, no matter what…