J.K. Rowling, the author and creator of Harry Potter series, gave an inspiring speech at the Harvard graduation in 2008. The one thing that stayed with me upon finishing the video of the address is the under-rated value of failure. As she eloquently says:
"Failure meant a stripping away of the in-essential"
"Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something. Unless you live so cautiously that you might as well have not lived at all in which case you fail by default."
In an environment that emphasizes and rewards success as the hallmark of living, and scorns failure as a mark of weakness, Rowling's thoughts on failure warrant our attention. Perhaps we need to take stock of the failures in our life, and not just the success, and question how it has affected the course of our life. And perhaps it is in the failures that we have experienced which allow us to journey the road "less travelled", to quote Robert Frost, “and that has made all the difference”.
J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.
No comments:
Post a Comment