Recently I heard an interview with Richard Antoine White. He has an incredible personal story to tell, his path from abject poverty to a life of his dreams. What struck me most is his “backronym” for fail, also the title of this blog, “Finding An Intended Lesson… for future growth.” A backronym is, “an acronym formed from an already existing word. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent.” (Wikipedia)
First, a brief overview of Richard’s story. The son of an only parent who struggled with drug addiction, he was often without shelter or a meal. For a time, he frequently ate out of trash cans. But he and his parent did stay in connection, and they had a strong bond despite the hardships of their lives. Somewhere along the way, White was introduced to music, this transformed his life. He is now a professor at a university and a member of a symphony orchestra.
People close to White’s story noted two things, first, his determination. One person put it this way, White’s general attitude was, “Here I am, here’s where I want to go, tell me how to get there, and I’ll do the work. He threw himself into the work in a really remarkable way.” Someone else noted, “There were moments that he wanted to quit, and at each of those moments, he had a mentor that would not give up on him, and it pushed him. I think the real story here is not necessarily that through sheer will and determination this kid forcibly changes his life circumstances, I think it’s really a perfect case study of ‘it takes a village.’” (I learned these details from an article in the Baltimore Sun magazine.)
To come up with “F.A.I.L. meaning a lesson”, several things had to happen. You need all of these.
- Determination – the individual needs to consistently show that they are willing to do the hard work to achieve their goal, even if they falter sometimes
- Support – the community or ‘village’ needs to acknowledge and value the individual, and provide the support and/or help required
- Acceptance of yourself as a flawed, growing human being – this is true of everyone of us, those aspiring and those in the village who can lend a hand.
We all make mistakes, we all fail. Then, we need to get in touch with our own determination and ask for the support we need from our community.