Fear: Failure and Successful People Essay

Submitted By ilovememyself
Words: 1179
Pages: 5

Once upon a time, a great man once said that no human on the earth is created in perfection. So why are we destined to be perfect or great, or the most pretty or the smartest and if we fail why are we are viewed as a wimp or a frailer? For one thing, this is not just a mentality created in the media, but in our society as a whole; we live in a nation that fears failure. However, some people say the most kind and successful people were once failures, but are we ready for this universal truth. Unfortunately, in our society, children are taught not to fail and if they fail, they do not get rewards. For example, in shows like Toddlers in Tiaras these children are taught that success will win you a trophy or candy at a young age when they fail it is the child fault and not the parents. Are the parents dwelling on the child’s failure or are they the culprits of a corrupt system where failure is not an option? What if failure were a focus of gaining success, instead of a Romanesque game where the winner lives, and the one who loses are stabbed in the chest? What if Diary of a Wimpy Kid were changed to Diary of a Perseverant Boy; would people buy the book? Probably not; but why would they not buy the book with such an honest title.

In this society, we focus too much on the people who are successful, and feel like we are unable to help a person who fails. If you fail, you are funny or amusing; it’s why Seinfeld and Charley Brown seem so humorous, but depressing to people like myself. If I were in a Peanuts cartoon, I would slap Lucy in the face for saying not only terrible things to Charley Brown, but for her so-called Psychology Office in which she gives the most non-positive advice and for lifting the football from him. Yet people laugh when Charley Brown falls down; but let it be known that the creator of the comic strip Charles Schulz, suffered from chronic depression, which was brought on during his childhood. Therefore, the strip is a reflection of all of his childhood fears and failures. Which gives us the question, why would people force others to fail or set themselves up for failure? The answer, too much success and popularity will lead people to hurt those who need help. Reason why is because these people fear their success and popularity will be departed if they help a person deemed a geek or a wimp. Therefore, they do not become successful and popular, they become bullies.

Unlike the media that portrays bullies as having an abusive home life, most of the people who bully others are sometimes the most admired and successful people in the school. It happens in High School all the time; a girl’s hart is broken because of a rumor, a geeky man who got an A on a test is beaten or called names, a football player who does not kick the ball high enough is a wimp. All of these cases are the cause of people being too successful and popular; but it is not just students, it often times is the coach, or the band director, or the teacher that plays favorites or lets it go on. Unfortunately, all of the bulling caused by both students and teachers leads to either suicide or death. When these things happen, all the blame should go to the bully and his or her supporters; but when the procurers of these kinds of acts are targeted, they admit that they did nothing, or they blame the victim. One example of this is kind of behavior is in a scene from the new documentary Bully; when the mother of a bullied child tells the principle that her daughter was tormented by children on the bus the principle act like nothing happened and says, “I been on that bus, those kids are as good as gold!”. This is unfortunate proof that not only bulling occurs in school, but in the adult world as well.

Therefore, what is the true definition of success and how do people obtain it? Most of the mass media says that if you are rich, powerful, get the girl, and own a business you will gain success, and if you do not you will become a failure. In many