Failure is supposed to be part of life, right? Failure is supposed to teach us something, right?
Is failure is supposed to make us feel empty, too?
A student who struggles in my class volunteered a very difficult answer today. I was so pleased with his response, I said, "Wow! Did that come from your brain?"
And with that one foolish moment, I crushed him. He put his head down on the desk as the other students began to laugh at him and he cried for the rest of the class period.
Oh, my broken heart, what have I done? I didn't mean it that way. I DIDN'T MEAN IT. Don't cry. Please don't cry. Be quiet, you people. Leave him alone. Let him be. I am so sorry. I shouldn't have said that. You have come so far in the past 9 months. What have I done? People, we have failed in loving our friend today, I have failed in loving our friend today. I am so sorry. I will never make this mistake again. I will never say something which can be construed as anything other than encouragement, than love, than belief in the idea that YOU CAN, YOU DO, and YOU WILL BE. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I am so sorry.
I made someone else feel like a zero today. It is the worst feeling in the world.
1 year ago