First of all I am going to be fair about this. I called 10 people I know before I wrote this hub. The purpose was to find out what they thought about this question I found on the net. Failure: is it a stepping stone to success? They all said yes it is a stepping stone. They said I am totally missing the question. So I do dare to voice my feelings on this bad, bad, bad word.

Failure, failure, failure!!!!!!!!!!!!When did this nasty word become being used to describe the result of a human action.

FAILURE, IS AN END, NO DO OVERS.

I am sure I am not the only one who hears this word and cringes when it is used to describe something someone has done. There have been many people in our lives who have been told they failed, so they quit. They didn't realize, they didn't fail, it's not a failure. Don't quit, try again.

Let's see how we can look at it differently. How about we call it a mistake. A mistake is something you can use as a stepping stone. You say to yourself, "I made a mistake, so next time I will do it a little different."

When I was a little girl, I looked at my parents report cards from their schooling. They had a couple "E"s on their report cards. For the life of me I don't remember what the "E" stood for. It had something to do with not meeting the equivalency set forth by the school system for that class. It was not a failure, it just wasn't up to the standards set forth. So, what did they have to do, try harder. I don't know when they started putting "F"s on report cards, but it was wrong. An attempt at anything denotes trying, we learn as we go. We don't fail if we keep trying.

Very simply we were taught this at a very young age. Do you remember? It was the little train that could. If he had said I can't and quit, that would have been a failure. He said I can, and away he went. We as children learn this, then we are put out into a society who beats themselves and others down with a horrific word such as failure. How about the saying "If you get bucked off, get back on." If you don't, you have failed.

By using this word so horrible, usually to describe others actions not our own, we don't allow ourselves or others to grow. We muddle our brains up with the feelings of self doubt instead of excitement of what we have learned.

Shame on anyone who uses the word failure to describe something they have done or something someone around them has done.

Well, I just got a call from one of the 10 people.  He said he had been afaid to tear into a transmission he needs repaired.  He was afraid to fail, after my explanation he is going home to tear it apart and maybe make some mistakes he can learn from.YEA!!!!!

I hope you read this with an open mind and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.