Guest Column
by Sifu Daryl Cressman
Many of the best stories and personal tales involve failure. For example; during the first 4 years of Albert Einstein’s life he never spoke. When he was 16, he took an entrance exam to get into a Swiss polytechnic school and failed to earn a passing score. From those failures he bounced back and wrote papers on quantum theory of light and the existence of atoms. His theory of special relativity and perhaps Einstein’s most famous theory Energy=mass/speed of light squared.
J.K. Rowling found herself divorced and having to raise a child at a young age. Then her mother passed away causing her to be depressed. At the same time, she was putting herself through post-secondary school. This saw her finances take a hit. Through that period of time the books she wrote “Harry Potter” were rejected 12 times by publishers. Since then, over 500 million copies have been sold worldwide in over 70 languages.
Bruce Lee at a young age got into fights with different members of gangs. There were encounters with the police. That prompted his parents to sign him up to be taught to defend himself with renowned Wing Chung Master IP Man. Bruce also learned To Cha-Cha and won the Hong Kong championship. Bruce’s drive to create his own martial art saw him incorporate the footwork he learned in the cha-cha, Wing Chun, Judo and fencing. His first school was opened in Seattle then two more in Oakland. At this time the Chinese Martial arts community strongly disagreed with Bruce’s decision to teach non-Asian people. In 1969 Bruce severely injured himself in a routine training section because, “he didn’t warm up properly.” He was told by his doctor he wouldn’t walk or do martial arts again. The time Bruce was recovering saw him research ways to heal his body and produce one of his best-known books: “Tao of Jeet Kune Do”.
I have had my own share of failure and disappointment, but I continue to grow and learn. Failure is not unique to any individual, we all endure life’s ups and downs, but the difference between success and failure is how you react to the situation. If you move beyond your challenges and learn from them failure can become success. Just like sparring at WKFA, you will likely get knocked down at some point. You can whine and complain about the fact that you got knocked down, or you can get up, carry on and consider yourself wiser as you move forward.
In spite of many personal trials and setbacks I received an award for most improved novice student in my first year of Kung Fu training. In 2007 I was in the first black sash grading since Sigung Bob Schneider passed away (no pressure there) 8 hours later I received my black sash.
So, remember that even through the most trying times on your path, every time you fall, pick yourself up. Build on what you’ve achieved one block, kick, or strike at a time. Sometimes the most rewarding things we do have started out as the most challenging.
As Wayne Gretzky says, “you will always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”