Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Straight A's?

When thinking about my report card, I can relive the disappointment that occurred when my perfect academic score dropped from an A to B (and so on). Although there are always exceptions out there, I am reminded of the fact that I am innately human; therefore, I will have failures in my life.

One thing that stuck with me recently was hearing the scenario given of a family receiving their child's report card. When looking at the letters, the read aloud the several As and their minds focused in on the "F" that followed (math, maybe?). As a parent would do, they immediately started lecturing and brainstorming how they could improve this grade.

So many times in life, we focus in on the things that reflect our failures and try to correct them-over and over again. We relive the tests we faced. "If only I did...I could have passed."  We focus on trying to get bigger and better in the area of "improvement"-sometimes forgetting the things that were once our strongest points. We spend so much time thinking about our math skills that we fall behind in developing what we were good at. I believe (even more so now than ever before) that our failures do not define our lives. In other words, "manage the F, but celebrate the A."  Rather than focusing so much on what we could fix, why not make what we are good at even better?

"Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you."

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