It occurred to me today that there are worse things than failure.

Did you know that the singing gazelle in Zootopia is none other than the Columbian signer, Shakira?

I mean, I knew that she did some of the soundtrack music, and I’ve only seen the movie once or twice, so maybe I missed it somehow, but I only just realized, the last time I saw Zootopia, that Shakira is the gazelle. She features in one of the last scenes, during the denouement.

Try Everything is the hit song that Shakira put together for the movie. Its lyrics discuss the advantages of trying new things, even if those attempts end in failure, and the song ends up seeming revolutionary somehow, inasmuch as it forwards this idea that… hold on to your butts… it’s okay to fail at things.

That is not what we are teaching our children here in America, thank you very much, Ms. Shakira; you can take those crazy notions of yours right back to South America.

‘Failure is okay’, are you kidding me?!?! Everyone knows that “failure is not an option”. Everyone knows that failure is that thing that you get yelled at for, by your parents or by the school teacher. Everyone knows that failure starts with ‘F’ and an ‘F’ is the worst grade you can get on a report card.

But, here’s the thing –> I just did a Google search for “quotes about failure”, and they all came back with all of this ‘Shakira-esque’ inspirational drivel about positive attitudes and never quitting and getting up more times than you get knocked down and all of this non-sense.

So, where do we stand on this? I thought for sure that, in America, we were opposed to such radical and revolutionary ideas.

* * *

In a more serious approach to the topic, let me say this, as a school teacher for almost two whole decades: I’ve had students who wouldn’t even try because trying included in it a chance of failure. However, it is impossible to fail if you don’t try. Because failure is so undesirable, even more undesirable than being labeled ‘lazy’ or ‘negligent’, students who are trying to avoid failure will pick not trying every time.

This is one of the saddest things to watch happen, as a teacher, because at some point, this student learned that there’s nothing worse than failure.

Which isn’t true, of course.

When it comes to watching my students, who just don’t try because they don’t want to fail, you can see it in their eyes and on their faces –> they think that it might be worth trying, that maybe Mr. Brackett has a point when he says that they should try. In their eyes, you can see that they want to try. But, then that sparkle in their eyes goes dark, and their face droops a little bit, and then they say, “No, I’m not going to try.”

In their minds, they believe that they can’t fail if they don’t even try. However, they believe this because they’ve believed the lie that there is nothing worse than failure, that failure should be avoided at all costs. But, I can think of one thing that’s worse than failure, and a certain Columbian pop star would be able to read my mind right about now.

Not trying is worse than failure.

Not trying is worse than failure because you might not ever know how wonderfully talented you are at something until you’ve tried to do it. Granted, you may be horrible at this thing that you’ve never tried, but, if all things are equal, then at least the person who has tried knows
–one way or the other– whether or not they are good. The person who tries has the knowledge of their skill level.

The person who does not or will not try does not have that knowledge. The have their cowardice and their ignorance.

So, as Shakira would say, “Hips don’t lie.”

Oops.

So, as Shakira would say, “Try everything.”

* * *

But what about that feeling that you get when you try something and you fail at it. As horribly embarrassing as that is, it’s no wonder why people are afraid to try. I hate to tell you this, but that feeling isn’t natural. You, at some point in your life, learned that failing at something is embarrassing. Like with most things, you probably learned this at a young age. You were unfortunately influenced by an adult in your life, probably an adult who didn’t understand what they were doing to you, when they taught you that failure is bad, is embarrassing, is to be avoided.

I know I’ve done it to my kids, because I’ve seen the hesitance in their eyes when it comes to trying new things, when it comes to the possibility that they might fail.

Now, before I start whipping myself for my sins, let me say this: I don’t know if you can really blame adults for the way that they instruct children about failure. Parents, for example, often feel like their children are reflections on them –to what extent this may or may not be true is up for debate– and so, they are somewhat concerned about the failures of their children and how those failures will make them look. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s happening.

Teachers have a similar problem, inasmuch as students who fail are usually factored into some equation that schools have been using to calculate teacher effectiveness. If I thought that I could ever get away with it, that I could run a classroom experiment and not have it negatively affect my performance review, I would shoot for having a classroom full of students who have learned to at least try new things, over a classroom full of students who suggest that their teacher can teach them a few things when they’re interested in learning.

* * *

The even more unfortunate side effect here is this –> our society has become wary and hesitant about looking at different approaches, about trying new things, and I wonder if it’s not because of some collective fear that we have about failure. I’m not calling for us, as a society, to throw caution to the wind and run around trying every dumb idea that crosses our mind. I happen to believe that there are things that we ought not be doing or trying.

But, I also think it’s time to think of some different approaches to some things.

If not trying is really worse than failure, and we have noticed that there are things that aren’t working so well in our world, what do we have to lose in attempting some changes?

Take some advice from the singing gazelle.