Labor Day is past, and now we face the long list of work to complete by year-end. Do you look at your calendars and wonder how will you get all this done. Do you ask why am I doing all this? For most, it is because victory is never assured and failure is not an option.
We endeavor to make a difference; that the world will both need and deny our efforts.
Even if true victory is rare, still we must face each new challenge. Sometimes we face those challenges with success and that success provides the motivation to prepare for the next challenge.
Sometimes defeat does not provide us with rest or resources needed to continue on but does provide the knowledge we need to adapt and to grow. So in success or defeat, we either move forward or we fail – and failure is not an option!
Each of us have experienced success or failure in many ways – in raising our children, in building a career, and in helping make life better for others through service. Such work is not for the faint of heart or weak willed. Society will always create a variety of obstructions for us to navigate. Today we see a weak economy, failures of leadership and so many overwhelmed by anger or depression.
Why do we keep moving? Because we believe that failure is not an option, and as long as we are trying, we have not failed. Neither defeat nor success results in being well rested. Making a real difference has a price. Just recall the faces of those who battled at Ground Zero or work to rebuild after a natural disaster. Along the way to victory, we can expect to be tired, frustrated, and angry.
So where does one find the energy to move forward? At times, we need to step back, take a good look around and see what we must do to prepare for that next step. We need to look around and find others who also believe failure is not an option. We must reach within ourselves to recall what is truly important; for there you can always find the energy to move forward.
I visit that place often when weary and facing hard choices. What obstacles drive you to that place? And what is it you find once there? It is important to know, for in that place we find what we must do, and why we must do it. Then we can help ourselves and each other assure that failure is not an option?
Steven Murphy
Executive Director,
Sertoma
