Big and Little Failures

[Bitter Creek]

Is the following true or not? Even if you are not a spiritual person, read the transcript and give me your perspective. BTW.. I have no idea who the "Simpson" is that is being referred to. I just read it with the assumption that he is someone who did big things, both good and bad.

"When Simpson succeeded it was in a big way. When he failed he made great failures. It had to be so. Men of his caliber do not make little mistakes. They fly too high and too far to steer their courses by city maps. They ask not, "What street is that?" but "What continent?" And when they get off of the course for a moment they will be sure to pull up a long way from their goal. Their range and speed make this inevitable. Little men who never get outside of their own yards point to these mistakes with great satisfaction. But history has a way of disposing of these critics by filing them away in quiet anonymity. She cannot be bothered to preserve their names. She is too busy chalking up the great successes and huge failures of her favorites." Wingspread; A. B. Simpson: A Study in Spiritual Altitude, 108-109.

 

[Cowpoke]

Well yeah, its all pretty true and just common sense. People who have the balls to try big things are more likely to have larger failures. Big things usually cost big money, and impact a lot of people.

If person A decides to build a 30 unit strip mall, and it fails, everyone in that town is going to know. Lots of people will lose money and jobs. Big balls, big opportunity, big failure.

If person B decides to open a snow cone stand on the corner sidewalk, and it fails, nobody will notice. Little balls, little opportunity, little failure.

 

[csh]

I'd say it's true, assuming the successes outnumber the failures. With too many big failures, one will start to have trouble gathering the resources to make those big failures. But then again, memories are short.

 

[Orange Jennyslipper]

I agree with the sentiment. I'm not sure I see where spirituality comes in. Simpson was the founder of the Christian and MIssionary Alliance. The quote is from a book by Tozer about Simpson.

It calls to mind the great quote of Teddy Roosevelt (Sorry, I had no luck in reducing the font size. The itals worked OK.):


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort
without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the
deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends
himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph
of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails
while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold
and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

 

[Bitter Creek]

The man in the arena should be read regularly