When author J. K. Rowling addressed the graduating class at Harvard last June, she didn’t focus on success. Instead, she spoke about failure. She related a story about a young woman who gave up her dream of writing novels to study something more practical. Nonetheless, she ended up as an unemployed single mom “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless.” But during this rock-bottom time, she realized she still had a wonderful daughter, an old typewriter, and an idea that would become the foundation for rebuilding her life. Perhaps you’ve heard of Harry Potter?
“You might never fail on the scale I did,” Rowling told that privileged audience. “But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all–in which case, you fail by default. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.” (Excerpt from “The Bounce Back Chronicles” by Joe Kita, as printed in the May 2009 Reader’s Digest)
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Ever since I was a little boy I’ve wanted to be a leader in whatever activity I’ve participated in. When I was six years old I was the “captain of the police force” with my school mates. As a young person in high school and college I held numerous student body offices. Admittedly in part my reason for wanting to be a leader was so I could be “the boss” or be known as someone who was “important.” The drive to be recognized was pushing my desire to lead.
Could it be that this is why we are having difficulty with leaders in the world today? Are they being driven by the need to be recognized, to be important? Is greed their driving force?
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A few weeks ago my wife and I were out shopping for a new battery for my cell phone. Becky invited me to consider the possibility of buying a new phone. “It’s time to update,” she said. As we began our search for a new phone, it became apparent that this task was going to be more difficult than we had planned. Every phone we looked at had numbers that were not distinct enough for me to touch/feel or had a digital readout which is of no help to me. We went from store to store and suddenly I realized that I was being paid a visit by an old acquaintance – anger.
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The year is 1981. I and the other members of the Choral Arts Ensemble (a forty voice choir) show up at the Portland Memorial Coliseum to practice prior to singing back up on a number with singer/song writer Barry Manilow during his concert. The producer sees me and walks over to our director and says, “He can’t sing.”
“What do you mean?” the director asks. “He’s one of our basses.”
“He can’t sing because he’s blind!” the producer states.
“What does being blind have to do with his singing?”
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It’s the first weekend in March 2007. I am on the Gallaudet University campus in Washington D.C. attending the Institute for Inclusion conference. As I make my way to the breakfast area I am going through my normal routine of attempting to figure out where things are – follow the sounds, listen to the conversations. But on this day I notice there is very little dialog. Finally someone comes over and asks if I’m looking for breakfast? I acknowledged that I am. Her response is “the wait person is aware of you, but he is hearing impaired so went to find someone who can help you.” I ask if she can help me through the line and tell me the food choices and she agrees.
As I make my way through the food line I am reminded of a similar incident some 50 years previous when I was a student at the California School for the Blind. Continue reading » »
