Let There Be Greatness in Our Failure

Wisdom from a Century Ago

Like several million other people, I watched the election polls and maps last night with hope that democracy could be preserved, racism repudiated, xenophobia rebuked, and civility championed. I have no illusions that a person or political party is going to solve America’s problems. However, I do think a president and her team could nudge things is a better direction, and a different sort of president could nudge things in a worse direction.

I went to bed sick to my stomach. My hopes, my vote, my wants…failed. Failure sucks. Failure never feels good. Months and years of dreaming, hope, and work go into trying to bring success, and when it doesn’t happen, you feel stuck at best, but often just defeated.

Today, a word of encouragement came from a place I would not have imagined: a failed hero from a century ago, Mahatma Gandhi. Now, he wasn’t a failure, of course; he helped to win independence for his country, and put a worldwide spotlight on the suffering of his people and all others who were under the thumb of colonial power.

But today I read an interesting discussion about how Gandhi “failed” to prevent the partition, the separation of Pakistan and India that took place in 1947. Gandhi firmly believed in a united India that could not only tolerate Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs in one place, but even thrive amidst diverse unity. But Gandhi’s words and efforts in this regard did not stop the partition. Gandhi’s opposition of the partition was unsuccessful.

A Gandhi biographer, Louis Fischer, had this to say about Gandhi’s “failure” in regards to the partition.

“He was great even in failure. A person may be smaller in success than in defeat; it depends on what he is trying to do.”

Fischer was talking about Gandhi’s beliefs, attitudes, and efforts that were driven by love, and the essential belief in the goodness of humankind. Fischer saw in Gandhi that we must look past the “small defeat” (the outcome of the moment) to testify to a greater success and accomplishment: changing hearts and minds about people, shaping values, and dreaming of a better world.

For those of us who had hopes hanging on a day and a moment, let us take time to lament the failure, but also may we aspire towards greatness even in failure, pointing our lives in the direction of a more love-filled, peace-filled, unified, equal, and civil society.

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The above quote is from Louis Fischer, Gandhi, His Life and Message for the World.

Thank you to Dr. Peter Rhea Jones for pointing me to this historical nugget.