Failure - and facing it

Failure - And lessons from failures

Dear Kids,

Too often, it seems to me, people lose their courage in facing life because of past failures or fear that they may fail in the future. One good way to cure such fears is to remember the story of a man who actually built a life of great accomplishments out of defeats, many of which would have made any other man give up all hopes.

The following list of failures, is a living and eloquent example of what happened in a real person's life in the United States of America. At the end of the long list of failures, you'll find the name of the person.

1. Lost job, 1832
2. Defeated for legislature, 1832
3. Failed in business, 1833
4. Elected to legislature, 1834
5. Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
6. Had nervous breakdown, 1836
7. Defeated for Speaker, 1838
8. Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
9. Elected to Congress, 1846
10. Lost re-nomination, 1848
11. Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
12. Defeated for Senate, 1854
13. Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
14. Again defeated for Senate, 1858

The man who failed so repeatedly throughout his life: Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest leaders in the history of United States of America.

What happened next:

• Elected President of USA, 1860

Hence, dear kids, you must always remember that even the greatest of people tend to fail in various stages of their life. What makes them great is their confidence and ability to overcome all their negative thoughts that accompany those failures, learn proper lessons from those failures, and go right ahead to try and achieve even greater heights.

Happy reading!

Uncle N

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