Personal Narrative: Parliamentary Procedure

“Never confuse a single failure with a final defeat”(Fitzgerald). As I recall all the failures of my short life; I realize that everyone of them has changed who I am, even if the change is so small I cannot see it immediately. We are told as children to get up, shake it off, and move on when a failure puts us on the ground. When we did this it slowly changed the way we thought and our character, the failures of life and what we learn from them are detrimental to our development in our future endeavors.

One of my largest failures happened just a few months ago. I am on my FFA chapter’s Parliamentary Procedures team; Parliamentary Procedure is a competition comprised of five members and a chair running a business meeting on the bases of Parliamentary

After I got second, I had to learn how to have a positive attitude even when I did not feel like having one. I learned the true meaning of losing gracefully as the winning team were our friends, and the last thing we needed to do was hurt anyone else. The most valuable thing I learned was that I can and should feel the pain of losing while at the same time be grateful for the opportunity I was given to compete. From every lose and failure I walk through as I get older the lessons I learn become easier to see. At first glance seconds after losing the contest it was all over, I was a complete loser with no intellectual ability and I deserved to work at a fast food restaurant for the rest of my life. Then my first lesson from this fail surfaced; I should never get down because of one little road bump. The next lesson came when I was speaking to my team member when the realization hit that I need to have that never easy positive mindset whenever it comes to failure. Than slowly as the weeks passed since the competition more of the internal tidbits I have learned because of the failure have surfaced within

I carry the burning pain of failure with me wherever I go as a constant reminder that I have learned these lessons for a reason. When I was younger and failure punched me the world was over, I could not get back up, I could not handle it, but now I have learned to shake the dust off and look for the future because it is very bright. Failure is fundamental to later success and the lessons we learn help us mold ourselves into someone who is ready to take it