Quote of the Week...from John F. Kennedy

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.  ---John F. Kennedy.

The above is one of those quotes in circulation on my television's Music Choice Soundscapes channel...and it is also one of the most challenging to me.  For I am a rather tentative soul who likes to carefully test the waters before I jump into them.  I also tend to do things on an incremental basis...running an extra mile, reading ten more pages, spending a tad less money, eating a little better...in other words gradually improving in things without going to excess about it.  Gee, I'm starting to sound like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill hobbit, not that Bilbo Baggins character in Tolkien's classic fantasy tale who went totally against his own instincts to set out on that great adventure to Lonely Mountain.  As for JFK, I recommend you watch the biographical/historical movie PT 109, made while he was president with Cliff Robertson in the lead role, to get a good picture of someone, when faced with imminent catastrophe, boldly stepping out and daring to fail horribly in order to obtain a great result.  A lot has been said and written about how Jack, Bobby, and Teddy Kennedy were so wealthy and groomed for political office by their father Joseph...but on that desolate, remote southern Pacific island where Lieutenant John Kennedy and his crew were shipwrecked in the midst of hostilities against the Japanese during World War II, he had to perform his command alone, risking everything...and much against the odds...to achieve resounding success...

I need to place a caveat on the above quote...well, maybe two.  The first is that we can often, especially in our youth, find ourselves embarking on ambitious quests just because others have "assigned" them to us as they engineer our lives, instead of us as individuals coming to our own independent conclusions as to what we want to accomplish.  Living out someone else's dream is fine, but only if it happens to be our own as well.  And secondly, if we do go out on a limb and end up failing miserably, how do we react to that result?  Through cynicism, blaming others, giving up?  Or by instead analyzing why things fell apart and then get back up to try again...armed with better information, skills, and wisdom and/or more realistic goals?  Sometimes the ultimate goal is attainable, but more manageable intermediate steps are necessary to build up to it.  And finally, there's nothing inherently wrong with going into an endeavor and realizing that your calling is in a completely different field.  But I think the main point of Jack Kennedy's quote is to stress the importance of personal commitment when it comes to wanting to achieve greatness...