A Dream Worth Failing At

"What would you strive to do if you knew you could not fail?"

That's easy.  World domination.
I mean seriously.  Why not?  If you can't fail, go for it!  After all, isn't that the dream at the heart of all man's accomplishments?  To truly own the world?  I think so.  So yeah.  If I couldn't fail, I would achieve world domination.  Why?  Because I can.  What more do you need?  Logic?
But here's the question.  Why don't more people actually try this?  It's been a while since anyone really put any effort into world domination, and I'm pretty sure they were a dirty, dirty communist (Gorbachev was a sneak).  We used to see it all the time.  From the Khans of Mongol fame to the Romans and Alexander the Great.  Then in the modern era you saw men like Napoleon and Hitler and Stalin.  We often consider these men horrible for what they did (and rightfully so), but you can't say they didn't go for it (or at least Napoleon, because I really don't want to heap any praise on Hitler or Stalin).  So if the answer to this question is so obvious, why is it then that nobody really ever tries anymore?
The answer is quite simple, really, and we've already proven it above.  What do we think of those three men who tried to dominate the world?  We think of them as tyrants.  As evil men.  And for the most part, we only remember them for their drastic failure.  Because when it comes to great feats such as world domination, failure is not just an option, but it is an option with near eternal consequences.  If you fail at it, you tank.  Napoleon is mostly remembered for "Waterloo."  Hitler is remembered as the man who killed six million Jews and killed himself in a bunker to escape justice.  Stalin...well, he tends to get off easy in history, but we'll just assume people mock him for dying of natural causes while only being the dictator of the largest country in the world (by area) and not the rest of it as a whole.  They failed, and they are mocked for it.

But if they had succeeded!  Imagine how these conversations would go these days.  We could all be speaking French and enjoying great coffee or the world's finest pastries.  Or we could all be speaking German and enjoying leiderhosen.  Or...people would just say, "то был такой позор, что Сталин умер вскоре после завоевания мира, а невосходящие к бессмертию, как мы ожидали."  (Just like that)  

My point, you may ask?  Here it is.  That question that people like to tout as so inspirational?  It's crap.  It means nothing.  Obviously, if you could not fail at whatever task you took to, you would take to the greatest undertaking possible.  Obviously.  The real question, I tell you, is what will you do knowing that failure is always looming?  (And you can read it in English)  Sure.  World domination could be fun.  However, I'm not gonna try it simply because I do not want to be hanged for treason.  That thought does not appeal to me very much.  It's not worth it.  I will, however, keep trying other things.  I am all about writing me some books.  I am all about that.  I know I may never reach my goal of being a published author (this doesn't count), but I am still going to try because even at the risk of utter failure, I could not tolerate myself knowing I did not try.  This task, to me, is worth failing.  It is worth taking a big fat "swing and a miss" if that is what is to become of me.  And who knows?  I might just succeed.  

What do you find worth failing at?  That is what I want you to ask yourself right now.  What would you do anyway knowing that failure is the only possible outcome?  What calling, or what cause, is noble enough that it would merit your life's sacrifice knowing that you would never fully succeed?  Because this is what charities are.  The world will always have its poor and its hungry.  We will not end these things.  As long as this world turns, there will always be death.  And sickness.  We cannot win that fight.  Still, are these not great battles worth undertaking?  Worth trying to fight?  I think so.  

It is easy for us to say that we would cure cancer or end child prostitution if we knew success was inevitable. Yet the real way to measure the mettle of a man or woman is to see if they are willing and able to fight this fight even though it will never end.  Even if failure is the only way it will end, ultimately, they will take that mantle upon their own shoulders.  

As Christians, we are tasked with delivering the Gospel to all corners of the world to all people.  It is our calling to bring the people of this world to Christ.  The problem is that we will fail.  There are going to be people in this world who do not hear the call on their life.  Scripture tells us this.  It is a perpetually losing battle.  There is no way that all people will come to a relationship in Christ.  It doesn't mean that the ones who do are not worth it, however, that is not what I am saying.  Any man or woman who comes to salvation through Jesus Christ is a cherished soul.  But so to are the ones who never will, and that is what makes it tragic.  

Now I don't want to completely take focus away from the personal aspect of all this with the global and the grand, but they are not so greatly separated.  We all have personal goals that are likely to yield nothing but failure.  Okay.  Let's try to make it work.  As citizens of this world, we have a responsibility to care for the impoverished and the hurting.  Although we can never end their suffering on the whole, we must try to do what we can.  As members of the body of Christ, we have our own impossible mission that is well worth the task.  Accepting a challenge is easy when the outcome is certain success.  It is by definition no longer a challenge.  The hardest mantle to take on is the one we will never complete, but there is honor in the fight.  There is pride in knowing that we have accepted the fight against failure, and we have deemed failure worth our efforts.  I encourage you today to take on something that you may very well fail, but do so knowing that your trial is not wasted.  The only failure which is unacceptable is the one we do not strive against.  

Et si vos es curiosus, si sum vincere mundum, vos omnes latine loqui. Donecsollicitudin nunc.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Adam Wynn is the author of 42Cobras Publishing (what you just read) and the still sorta-kinda not finished internet novel Will Baker is Dead, originally published by 42Cobras Publishing (what you just read).  When he is not out tackling the world's failures, Adam works as the intern at Georgia State University's very own Baptist Collegiate Ministries and he lives in a National Park.  In case you were curious, this does not make him a Park Ranger, although he is still fighting the Park Services ruling on that matter.  He is a two-time graduate of the University of Georgia with degrees in English and English Education, meaning you have no right to question his grammar or spelling or lifestyle.  He speaks English gooder'n you and has the paper to prove it.  Twice.  He enjoys Braves Baseball, Georgia Football, and The Eton Wall Game, all while speaking in third person.  You enjoy second person.