Tristan Lacle
English 101
Persistence through failure
Failure is a part of every person’s life. Failure can also be seen in numerous amounts of ways, such as positively or negatively. When we do fail, we have options to consider. For example, if I shot a basketball and miss, I could either pick the ball back up or give it another go, or just say “I cannot do it” and walk away. Often we make the mistake of giving up, due to stress, a lack of self-confidence, or even just because we are sick of failing. As we grow up we discover that the more we are persistent, it (usually) impacts us positively more than negatively to be persistent.
Persistence is often thought of when you think of someone who kept failing, but kept trying even if they still could not succeed. Whenever we attempt a new goal, or try to overcome a certain challenge we are required to use persistency. But where does the persistence come from? Is it taught? Learned? I believe that it grows over time. An article states “What I think is important on the road to success is learning to deal with failure, to manage adversity. That’s a skill that parents can certainly help their children develop—but so can teachers and coaches and mentors and neighbors and lots of other people.”(Taugh). Failure is often the drive of persistence, when I first started riding my bike every time I failed, every time my knees scraped the pavement It gave me all the more incentive to get back up and pedaling. Although something that almost sparks inside of you, persistence is still highly affected by your environment. I believe when Rose states parents can help their children developed persistency, I recall back to my father telling me to get back up and give it another go. Teachers also affect this as well, for example when you are playing an instrument and just cannot seem to get one part down. I know my old trumpet teacher would sit me down and make me play it over and over until “Here comes Santa Clause” played repeatedly in my dreams.
On the other hand, persistency can also a lack of self esteem. Say a kid wants to shoot a basket, but he/she simply is not strong enough to make it. No matter how many attempts taken, they may never get it. This is an example of how it may affect someone negatively, when there can only be one outcome. When I played video games with my older brother, I would almost never win. Although I would keep trying harder and harder, depending on ones background they might give up instead, saying they could never win and that it is pointless.