Jumpers for Goalposts

From Sarah Joseph, Editor of Emel, the Muslim lifestyle magazine:

“If at first you don’t succeed, pack your bags.” says a tearful Aubrey - a central character in the musical comedy film Pitch Perfect. She is referencing her father’s less than inspirational advice. Audrey is an uptight character who you don’t really get to like until the end of the film, when we finally understand that it was her father’s impossible expectations that turned her into an anxious, and uninspiring, drill-sergeant.

We all know the proper adage, and were probably told it as a child, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” But trying again and again in the face of failure is not always easy.

There are many days when we don’t succeed and would prefer to stay in bed, protected by the duvet, from life’s continuous demands. There are many days when to try again seems ridiculously hard, and quite frankly not worth the effort involved.

Yet somehow the human spirit is evoked.

If you have ever watched a child learn to walk, you would have seen the pause and slightly stunned expression, as they fall on their bottom for the umpteenth time, yet there is never a point when they give up. There is something internal which drives the process.

Not giving up is a lesson that a small child teaches us, but there are many things we can learn. Paulo Coelho says, “A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.”

I think he’s right, although there are many more things a child can teach – dreaming big for one. Small children are not limited by all the reasons that things can’t be done. In their imagination the world can be conquered, the impossible can be achieved.

I love being in the company of small children. There is something inspirational about them. I love their quirks of imagination, their pottering about, their demands, their laughter, their lack of respect for the way things have to be.

As a child I dreamed I would create a much better world. I can remember with vivid clarity the hopes and ambitions of making the world a better place.

Life tires you. Life certainly knocks the wind from your sails. Yet it is worth reclaiming the strength and clarity of one’s childlike qualities. There is something powerful; magical even, about the lessons of a child.