Society Won’t Let Us Skin Our Knees

This analogy is of course imperfect, as I certainly do not advocate that the only measure of success is perfection. (I still take a few ungraceful spills myself.) The problem is that our society is disinclined to let people fall down and skin their knees. A person denied the right to fall down occasionally is also denied the opportunity to learn to succeed.

Additionally, in trying to guarantee against bumps and bruises we run the risk of creating a culture of people who think they have a right to be bump and bruise free. In the words of Gandhi, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” Let me fail. Let me succeed. Let me succeed at failing. Let me be, and let me BE.

Most people wouldn’t think of Seattle as a hotbed of classical liberalist thought. Nonetheless, this article was mildly surprising and most certainly a good read.