This quote jumped out at me today as being the perfect example of 21st century failure, and I mean that in both a good and a bad way.
In the good way, we are taught that we should learn (cash in on) from our mistakes. That is a universal lesson, easy to grasp, hard to implement.
In the bad way we have the obsession with confessional celebrities from Brittney to Lindsay to Paris to Jon to any number of knuckleheaded politicians who figure out a way to cash in on their stupidity or bad judgment. But it isn’t just the public figures that get sucked into the ‘stumble but make sure you get publicity’ mentality. We do it with our own confessions of failures and shortcomings.
Think about this quote. It is meant to be somewhat facetious, a sarcastic slap in the face to the idea of taking credit for something you probably shouldn’t be too proud of. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t extol the virtue of those who have overcome adversity, but overcoming is defined by the amount of publicity you get, it’s defined by the true redemption you exhibit.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience.” – Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American Philosopher – interesting notes: He died on the Lusitania cruise ship when it was torpedoed by the Germans during WWI. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, was his nephew.