Senior reflection: Just call me Grace

Senior Writer Paige E. Wassel

Just call me Grace.

I’m tempted to say this on every occasion I’ve been walking on campus only to be suddenly sprawled out on the ground: hands scuffed, legs tangled, and in a general state of disarray.

I’m never exactly sure how it happens. One minute I’m purposefully headed towards the building of my choice and the next I’m looking around to see how many people saw me fall on my face.

Although such experiences make me wish I had a buddy to walk with, I’m starting to think that my propensity for falling might have more to say about life than that I’m just wearing the wrong shoes.

The whole falling process, if I might so term it, is an illustration for the way we can look at failure and success. We can view just walking from point A to point B as a success, but falling, or failure, can help us to appreciate what it takes to get to that next point. It comes back to that idea that sometimes we have to experience pain before we can learn and grow.

It’s rather like the prayer rock I used to be reminded to pray growing up. Although the rock was accompanied by a nifty poem that I don’t remember, the idea was that you put it on the floor before you went to sleep, and then, when you stub your toe in the morning, you would remember to pray. Then, you put it on your pillow and when you went to bed, you would hit your head on the rock and remember to pray again.

Failure can serve as this reminder, showing up when we’re looking so much ahead that we don’t pay attention to where we are. It can be painful, but it can also keep us in check by forcing us to look more carefully at the task at hand, and figure out, step by step, how to move on.

As the great silent film philosopher Mary Pickford put it, “You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

In other words, we can’t let our mistakes keep us from moving forward. We can’t let our desire to stay with what is familiar prevent us from seizing opportunities for growth. Personally, I find this to be the most challenging idea as I am preparing to get out into the “real world.”

So while I fully expect to fall down again, (and yes, it's okay if you drive by and pretend not to know me again) I’m hoping that the next time I stumble I can use the opportunity to remember this little life application before I move on.

Oh yeah, and San Dimas High School football rules!