education / the art of failure

Also, before the text begins, let's warm up a little, please think about the following two questions:
1. What do you think is success?
2. Do you think the concept of success or failure is correct?

There must be winners and losers in a game, and the winner gets everyone's applause, but what about the loser? During the Tokyo Olympics, athletes participated in one game after another. You can put yourself in the role of an athlete on the court and think about this problem.

Success and failure seem to be relative, but in fact they are inextricably linked. It is true that everyone just wants to succeed and not to fail, but taking a step back, who has only experienced success and has not experienced failure? I believe everyone has heard the truth of "Knowing failure is the only way to succeed" and "Failure is the mother of success". I believe everyone has heard of it, and also knows that many representative figures, such as JK Rowling, were rejected twelve times, etc. These eventually succeeded Exemplary figures often remind us not to give up easily, to persevere until the end to win. (Those who want to read more can refer to the following article: https://www.managertoday.com.tw/articles/view/35616)

However, what I want to explore today is our most fundamental understanding of success and failure. If we compare life to a game, there must be so-called winners and losers, just like the game of Monopoly. You must have played it when you were a kid! This game has its own rules, which guide players step by step, so that every participant has a chance to win the game fairly; but in the game of life, there is no set of fair and just rules. From birth, we face inequalities of all kinds, from gender, religion, economic capital, nationality, sexual orientation, and even disability. I can't resentfully say that this is a social injustice, because compared to other people, maybe for them, I am stepping up this higher ladder, but it is undeniable that the beginning of the game is unfair , so using the same criteria to judge a person's success or failure seems somewhat inappropriate.

In fact, success or failure is closely related to our society. Well put it, the concept of success and failure is a set of standards formed by society. The people who hold the right to speak are the groups that benefit from this standard. These people can easily become famous because they have rich social background and connections. , capital, so it seems easier for them to achieve success in our consensus, which is good social status, wealth, or reputation, etc. In the past, we always heard that "if you don't study hard, you will work in the future". Workmanship seems to be synonymous with failure, but we did not think that for some people, no matter how hard they work, they may not have the chance to succeed, because the different birth environments put them in an unequal position, so they It takes more effort in exchange for the possibility of success.

Looking back, this game of life seems poisonous, but do you choose to continue the game, or quit the game? From the point of view of the game, when you join, it is established that you are either a success or a failure, and you have tacitly accepted the rules and settings of the game, even if it is unfair, you still choose to participate. But what can change is that if you or your team's voice trumps the other's voice, you can change the rules, or even change the game, in order to "succeed"; conversely, you can choose not to accept the rules, which is Choose to "fail" in the game, then leave the game and develop or find your ideal new game. So do you want to succeed at all costs, or would you rather fail and play another game?

Let’s take a social issue of sexual orientation as an example. Homosexuals are considered a failed role in traditional society (Halberstam, 2011), so many people decide to hide their sexual orientation and pretend to be successful heterosexuals By. However, while these people have achieved ostensible success, they have also lost the possibility of expressing themselves. In contrast, other homosexuals, who forgo their sexual success and choose to come out to family, friends, and the public, from a traditional perspective of sexuality (success equals heterosexuality, failure equals homosexuality), they It may have failed, but they may have gained something different after actually leaving the environment. Similar concept to the previous paragraph, you can choose to succeed on the surface, or decide to lose and quit the game, and develop your own path.

Finally, I want everyone to think about it, if failure is no longer just a simple failure, but another kind of art endowed with meaning, is there any case around you: what you think of failure is actually another kind of art Success out of the box; or the apparent success of others may be just a failure in your eyes.

I've talked a lot, made it a little complicated, and I'm a little messed up. This article may be a bit difficult to read, but I hope that you can understand what I want to express when you see it at the end.

references
Halberstam, J. (2011) The queer art of failure . Durham; London, Duke University Press.