Trying Times

 On Trying Times:

This is iteration #2 of a drystack stone wall (no mortar), around our compost pile. I hate it, and I hope you do, too. So, down it comes, and I'll try an iteration #3, which should reflect some additional learning since #2, after even more hours spent poring over obscure British websites. Mind you, it takes at least a few minutes to find one rock and test it up to seven ways before either accepting it or rejecting it, for a spot. So the failures add up to a great deal of time. Drystack walls are best built by stonemasons who have years of experience.

The problem with rough rocks is that there are very few ways they can fit together into a pile which looks both finished and stable. There is no user guide telling you how to assemble the wall. You must invent a way, over and over, knowing there might be no way that works.

This would be a great sermon topic: How often do we try and fail, and then learn more about how to "try better," and then try again, but fail again? What does it say about us--are we wasting our time by engaging in an obstinance worthy of ridicule, or is it one major but unfortunate way of learning new skills? Which is more important: The journey, or the destination? It reminds me of that old saying:

"If at first you don't succeed, then try, try again. If you still don't succeed, then give up--no sense in being a damned fool about it."

Remember The Matrix? Keanu Reeves watches a movie that's plugged directly into his brain, and then says, "I know Kung Fu!" Lucky Neo. He didn't have to fail a thousand times first. It's said that we must spend about 10,000 hours to achieve proficiency in something difficult (that's BS--it could be a lot less, or it could be never. But maybe it's an average that applies in some cases).

When we finally succeed, we tend to cherish our failures. Even if we never succeed, we often do the same. In some novel, a bull gored and killed the master of the house, and its head, with its horn still blood-caked, subsequently adorned the mantle in the great room, where the victim's son now held sway.

Failure often leads to quitting. There are so many ways of quitting: Sometimes we quit before we even start - is that wise, or wimpy? It depends. Sometimes we try once and fail, then quit. Sometimes, we try and fail multiple times, but keep on trying, and then eventually we finally succeed or quit. Sadly, the process of trying is finite, as dying has a way of making us quit.

We could avoid failure, if we stuck to the things we already know how to do. But many of our role models welcome failure. They actively seek it, because they know without many failures they will never achieve a difficult goal. The process of trying and failing, whether you are building the world's largest rocket to take humans to Mars, or whether you are just trying to create a new recipe for a whole-grain pastry that is both fluffy and healthy, seems like the very essence of human endeavor. So I submit that trying is noble, so long as it's done well. My iterations 1 and 2 were failures, but my effort was lousy and shameful. It's "good trying" that I need to shoot for.

I guess I should close by saying, "We live in trying times." So, everyone, let's all get out there, and try!