Quasimodo had grown quite fond of this place. He had an appetite for life and wanted more than a taste.

He toiled each day from sun up until down, and when work was done he would trot about town.

Meeting and greeting the folks in the street, his step had a spring and his drum had a beat.

As he’d done in the past, he sat on the grass, and knew that he hoped to speak

“I can only ask the question, Friend. The answers, you must seek.”

When we find that one thing we love to do, above all else, we have complete confidence in our abilities. We don’t worry of failure, because our mind tells us, how can we fail if we do what we love? Doing what you love in life is a success in and of itself, so failure is impossible, right?

Take a moment if you would, and think of something. Think of something that you just do, or wish to do, no matter what. Something that you wouldn’t take a second thought about about. Think about that something that you must do and that failure is never even a concern in your mind, because the journey & the destination are all wrapped up in one.  

Find this and just maybe, find what moves you.

Find this and begin to understand that the fear of striking out, should never keep you from playing the game..

Find this, and be able to answer the question that now lingers in your mind.

What Makes You Unafraid of Failure?

(OOC: For some reason I get the anonymous video voice when I read your stuff in my head...just throwing that out there)

What makes me unafraid of failure...not being able to lose the prize.

Entwined history of my bloodline and other bloodlines, No matter what I do, how many mafioso's it goes back. The reason my bloodline comes back and does the same thing the same way with no fear is tradition and brotherhood. You can't fail if you already have the reward.

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship."
Thomas Aquinas

Curiousity rises while hearing the thoughts of McCaboose. Quasimodo's listens on an waits as McCaboose finishes his thought.

Do you ever feel as though knowing what lies ahead, takes away from the fun of it all? Knowing that the prize is always going to be there, waiting for you?

I concur, that when a bond like tradition or brotherhood is found and fostered, there is nothing quite like it. Without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.

But i can't help but wonder. If the prize is tradition and equal reward, brotherhood, even those could surely change, given time, could they not?

Stand fast on your journey. Lose not the sight of tradition and brotherhood. Lose not the courage and faith, that keeps you pressing onward. Hold dearest these things you mention, hold them close to your heart.

Succeed in this and find yourself among the few, who know their destination, but allow their journey to make it all worth while.

My answer is simply, the possibility if success. That coupled with the fact that failing only leads to true knowledge.

Failure in many cases is inevitable, however what you say that if we do wat we love we can't fail, on that path, that journey, you take one bad decision, one wrong turn and you may well fail. I agree with the notion that how can we fail if it is something we love, but can you love it too much and ruin it? over-complicate it?

I'm not trying to put you down with your philosiphy, it is a good positive philosiphy to have. These questions of mine are merely 'What If's' that i thought were worth mentioning.

Popcorn, you and many others might agree. Many have said that The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. Going from failure to failure, without losing enthusiasm, even.

Quasimodo listens on to the Faceman and worked to bring words from thought.

Faceman, first and foremost, I would say thank you kindly for your question. Like me, you give thought to the questions asked of you and seek further insight still. I’ve often believed that it is when we stop asking questions, that we require answers more then ever.

I believe you have stumbled upon two things here, both I will leave with you to consider.

The first is interpretation

Ruining, or over complicating is a matter of perspective. If we grow to a point where we no longer love what we do, than perhaps we never loved what we did in the first place.  However, if we do something we love, we will always love it. If we didn’t love it, we wouldn’t do it. Does that make sense? While a bit tricky in verbiage, the deeper meaning speaks volumes. We only feel as though we’ve ruined or complicated something, if we concede and accept that it is done.

Through each ‘failure’, again a matter of perspective, and perseverance beyond it to our eventual success, we see what it is we truly love, don’t we? Is it possible to arrive at the point of doing what we love, while still believing in our hearts that it has been ruined? Ruined gives off a connotation or nuance of collapse, or disappointment. When we perceive failure, we see defeat. When succumbing to defeat, could one assume, we are afraid to try again?

A lengthy response, I know, but the second point raised even more curiosity.

What If?

What if, is a question asked by many, overlooked by some, but dwelled on by the vast majority.  The magnitude of questions is endless, ranging from the mundane to the momentous, the seemingly insignificant to the earth-shattering.

 

What if you had the chance and never took it?

What if you had the chance and did take it? Did you make the right choice?

What if no one judged you? Would you do things differently?

What if you had it all?

What if you lost it?

What if you arrived on time caught your train and it crashed?

What if you arrived 2 minutes late and just missed your train?

What if you loved her and you let her go? Would she come back?

What if she was waiting for you to chase after her and you didn’t?

 

 

 

The list goes on my on friend.

A while back i wrote a column, not unlike this very one. In it, one of my excerpts, spoke of arriving at the Crossroads of Life, and how some have pushed past it to do great and wonderful things. The questions above, speak to those very crossroads.

You may toil on the questions, or you may live carry on. You may go left or right or you may stand there. The world will continue to turn, while you ask yourself the questions. There is no right choice. In the end, our destinations are the same. No matter where we turn, where we stop, or run, or turn, we will always wind up in the same place at the very end.

So, if you feel as though it has been ruined, and there are no roads left from which to choose, then you have come to your end.

However, if you know that one of these paths will lead you to success. That one of these paths will lead you to what you love, than it can’t ever be ruined, for you know it is certain. It can’t ever be over complicated, because you know a path exists beyond that, to bring it back around again.

Faceman, I am certain my response was much more than you expected and in truth, much more than I expected to provide. But indoing so, I have even found myself a bit enlightened for the time spent, and I hope from it, you find answer to your question.

Thank you very much, for coming out this evening and speaking with me.

I thank you for what you have offered me, and you are right it is enlightening, I am glad what i have said as made you open up your mind further to your original point,

I suppose at the end of the day it can come down to 'shoulda woulda coulda'

To put it eloquently, yes. It could very well come down to just a that

also i would like to actually answer your question, i don't actually believe with my mindset that anything can make me unafraid of failure, i believe it is probably a mild case of paranoia or just like i mentioned over complicating of the task in hand.

Everything makes me afraid of failure. I am absolutely terrified that any plan or idea I have might not work out. The only thing that keeps me posing such "schemes" is that I've failed many times before and I've succeeded on occasion. I've become a bit desensitized to failure which may or may not be a bad thing. I'm always going to be worried that any option I could pose won't be the "correct" one, but being able to pose that option in the first place is what reminds me why I'm in this line of work at all.

You never know until you try. While that does sound extremely corny, its filled with truth. You can spend your entire life never trying, and i guarentee you'll live a boring life. When you try, even when you fail, youve still grown and learned from it. There is nothing wrong with failure, because it shows you're trying to better yourself. Well, unless you keep trying to run straight through a brick wall repeatedly, then there is something wrong with failure.

I believe you may be correct.

Even in the continued to act of hitting a brick wall though, you begin to learn of perseverance. Maybe, if you do it long enough, you just might break through that wall. You will never know, unless you try

I think that my naive view of the world is what makes me unafraid of failure.  As a matter of fact, the thought never occurred to me, that failure is even a possiblility  Of course I will succeed, eventually.  There may be minor road blocks along the way, but this journey in life will be my one great success.

A wonderful outlook jam n honey.

It is the journey, not the destination, it is the sum of our lives

I being almost a realist, would see naivety as failure, it is looking at would could be and not what is? It is a dream? which whilst aspiring for something is a positive thing to do, it gives you something to strive for, it is still too optimistic in many cases, which is why when like jam n honey says 'a naive view of the world' it isn't ever going to be what you hope it is, which must seem to appear to you as a failure?