Failure Leads to Extraordinary Achievements

Any respectable goal includes hurdles and obstructions.  It’s rare that a linear expressway takes us to our goals. 

In the story, “The Opportunity Buggy” from my latest book, Covered, a preteen girl, Helen, has an audacious goal, to be independent and live well, as she rolls outside in her wheelchair, having lost the use of her legs in a car accident. But she tips over, scraping her arm, frustrated by the failure. The family’s feisty housekeeper, Mrs. Ludwig comes to her rescue.

“I hate that chair. I hate it,” Helen screamed. She was crying now. “It’s ugly and I’m sick of it, sick of being stuck in a wheel chair, sick of being a cripple!”

“Miss Helen, sounds like your attitude, more than your situation, is what needs helpin” [Mrs. Ludwig said]

Mrs Ludwig helped Helen sit up.

“Now you listen to me, Miss Helen, it ain’t your wheelchair’s got you trapped, it’s your thinkin’ that’s got you trapped.”

Helen held her sore arm. “I can’t even go outside by myself without falling down and getting hurt,” she said, whimpering.

“Guess we gonna have to work on fallin’ so’s you can learn how to git up.”

Obstacles shape us, make us wiser, kinder and more compassionate. Overcoming mountains teach us how to survive, molding valleys and failures into extraordinary achievements. Read Covered and learn the rest of Helen's story.