“You’re fired.” Familiar words, to which the reply always seems to be “Thank you, Lord Sugar.” Why is anyone thanking Lord Sugar for telling them that they are a failure? Maybe they aren’t. Thanking him, yes, but not agreeing that they are a failure – they just failed at that one rather artificial task he set them.
Too often we use “You’re a failure” as short-hand for ‘you’ failed (or at least, didn’t succeed) at something (and quite often it wasn’t particularly important anyway).
“You’re a failure” is a bleak, all-encompassing, statement pointing a finger at a whole person. And, apart from it not being mine to judge, it’s not true. To fail at something isn’t the same as being a failure.
How should we respond when we fail? – Pick yourself up, dust yourself down and go again? Give up and move on to something else? Get the ‘for dummies’ book on the subject, and go again? Find an expert who will take you on as an apprentice?
In life, people often try one of the first three, and are often unwilling to approach the one who really knows and who wants to take you on as His apprentice.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest – Mat 11:28
Raymond