“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” Sir Winston Churchill.
I’ve been thinking about defeat and what is considered being defeated or failing and what is considered being a success or successful. By the time a person reaches my age, she or he has probably succeeded at many things and failed at an equal number or more. As Mr. Churchill said, failure is certainly not fatal and, like success, it is not final either. Circumstances, those things beyond our control, can knock us down but if we continue to get up, we cannot be defeated.
Sometimes a dream seems just beyond our reach. We see others achieve what we’ve tried so hard to attain. We wonder why and are tempted to give up and throw in the towel. I admit to having been there. 
Then, I re-look and realize defeat is a state of mind. What does it matter what others think if I know, within my heart, that I’ve done my best? Maybe in failing to win a coveted prize, I have learned and grown and encouraged others to keep trying. Those who never fail are those who never try.
A failure in one area may be God re-routing me to another road or even a new destination. Sometimes it takes more courage to change directions than it does to keep plodding along in the same direction.
Another thing about being labeled a failure, either by myself or by others–“Failure” is a label and I do not like labels! As a teacher, I did not like to hear a child labeled a “slow learner” or “behavior problem” or challenged in one area or another. Each person is so much more than imperfections, for goodness sake. A child who is not a whiz in math may be outstanding in reading and understanding what he has read. Correctly dividing words into syllables or diagramming a sentence doesn’t matter much when he is reading and absorbing a fascinating work of fiction or understanding the Constitution of the United States. I remember tender-hearted little kindergarteners putting their arms around classmates who were unhappy and even shedding tears right along with them. They were sad because their neighbor was sad. What winning personalities!
Is there a scale for measuring compassion or perseverance? How about truthfulness or honesty? In my opinion, people possessing these things are winners.
I hear about “seizing the opportunity” or having missed a great opportunity in life. It is as if we have only one chance at succeeding and if we don’t grab hold of it or if we grab and miss, well, that’s all there is. Abject failure. I beg to disagree most vehemently. I am reminded of a poem by Walter Malone, Opportunity.
They do me wrong who say I come no more
When once I knock and fail to find you in;
For every day I stand outside your door
And bid you wake, and rise to fight and win.
Wail not for precious chances passed away;
Wail not for golden ages on the wane!
Each night I burn the records of that day,
And at sunrise every soul is born again.
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