A Friday Night in One Lifetime
Right Outta Nowhere
Rain & Mud & Wild & Green
Live
A Thousand Girls
This Time Last Year
Can’t-Miss Inspiration from J.K. Rowling
June 9th, 2008 by Christine Kane
The two videos below are Parts 1 & 2 of J.K. Rowling’s Commencement Address entitled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at Harvard University. Thanks to Amylia for sending the link to me!
Add to del.icio.us
Stumble It!
Subscribe to this feed
Digg it
|
|
Share this Article:
Newsletter:
|
June 9th, 2008 10:21 am
Amazing… very touching..
June 9th, 2008 11:46 am
Wow! Wonderful message! Thank you for sharing it!
June 9th, 2008 11:52 am
Wow. That was powerful. I’m laughing, I’m crying, and I’m inspired.
June 9th, 2008 1:29 pm
I love her honesty in talking about her fears. Thanks for sharing this!
June 9th, 2008 2:43 pm
I read that speech, but it’s marvellous to see and hear her make it, too. Thanks for sharing it.
June 9th, 2008 4:38 pm
“I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality. So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me… I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. ,…Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way….”
____________________________
my take on this is somewhat different.
in may of ‘04 i lost my job of 6+ years and was, for the first time in many, many years, unemployed. in the past if i was unemployed it was just me; in ‘04 it was me, my wife and son. my wife had had a serious medical condition several years before and is on certain meds for the rest of her life as a result; her son has type 1 diabetes and needs insulin to live. (Health Insurance) we had a house. (Mortgage) and all of the usual bills didn’t stop either, of course.
we had been living paycheck to paycheck, so there were no savings to fall back on. my former employer decided to fight my unemployment claim, so i had no money coming in for close to 6 weeks.
i spent 6+ hours a day online searching out jobs, filling out forms and submitting resumes to any job that I felt remotely qualified for.
my inability to find a job left me feeling like a failure. not only was a personal failure, but i was a failure to my wife, son, our cats… we were likely to lose our home and be unable to keep our cats, serious health implications were just around the corner from sending either my wife or son into the hospital and there was nothing *i* could do prevent any of it.
*that* is my view on failure. and, yes, of course it changed forever my worldview and take on life.
i lived through that experience *only* through the help of other people, specifically my wife (who wouldn’t let me give up) and two other friends (one who asked if he could make my COBRA payments to keep health insurance going for my wife and son and then offered to make our mortgage payments as well, and another friend who saw the scared hollowness in my eyes and counseled me
on the really bad repercussions of suicide).
i had a story in me to write at that time as well. i had my guitar as well, sitting in the corner collecting dust. however, i didn’t have the spirit to continue with anything “artistic” because my personal level of security wouldn’t allow for anything outside of finding a job and restoring order and some semblance of normalcy for my family.
by the time i found a job 3 months later i was 30 pounds lighter and physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted.
failure is a good teacher and not being afraid of it –in certain circumstances– is a good thing. however, rowling was able to write the first Harry Potter because she lived somewhere where her unemployed status was supported, financially, buy the government and her health care (and that of her infant daughter) were provided for by the government as well.
failure did not “free” me as it did for rowling. if anything, it’s left me with a mild version of post-traumatic stress disorder and the distinct, clear memory of looking over the edge of the cliff into the abyss and not liking what i saw.
(i know you’re trying to be encouraging, trying to let people know that Failure doesn’t have to mean The End, that Failure can be The Beginning of Something Better. i think there just needs to be some qualifiers here…)
…
June 9th, 2008 6:18 pm
I enjoyed watching her speech. Harvard magazine has the entire video and trancsript here: http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html
June 9th, 2008 7:51 pm
Hey, Christine. Thanks for the shout-out! I’m glad the video is reaching a wider audience through your blog than the few loyal readers of my own. Much of what you have taught me or reminded me of is echoed in Rowling’s speech, and I am blessed to know you. You help me and my life COME ALIVE! Thank you for being who you are.
June 10th, 2008 12:34 am
Thank you for making us aware of this speech!
Her message was very touching and relevant for everyone, particularly so for those who have greater opportunity and resources to contribute to the world in some positive way.
I’ll do my part in sharing this with others when I can.
June 10th, 2008 1:48 am
Thank you. I had to focus on several personal and work projects when the books were coming out and never had a chance to read them. They’re on my reading list now! I sent the link to several people going through hard times — it was very touching.
June 10th, 2008 8:46 am
Thanks, Christine, for posting this wonderful speech. Thanks, Amylia, for sending it to Christine! I showed it to my speech class yesterday — a great example of a moving talk from someone who’s not a “natural” public speaker.
June 10th, 2008 9:10 am
I think that Rowling has a good point, make your life count, but misses the mark when she says the “rock bottom” was the foundation upon which she built her life. She was not on rock bottom. She has not hit that yet. Perhaps, she can not IMAGINE what rock bottom really is! I think faith is a better foundation upon which to build your house. And if you want to change the world, the truth is more powerful than fiction. Imagination is a cheap substitute for faith. But the devil is always doing that, it is his specialty…
June 10th, 2008 12:45 pm
I too enjoyed the speech and was quite surprised at some of the reported comments from some of the graduating intellectual snobs. A report on NPR had interviews with a few who believed they were “entitled” to better speakers — after all, they were graduating from Harvard! Very sad indeed — them and their sense of entitlement.
June 10th, 2008 4:16 pm
Fivecats…you’re a hero in my book for hanging in, brother. Sure, there is a lesson in all adversity, but it doesn’t always end pretty, does it? God bless.
June 10th, 2008 6:55 pm
THANK YOU Christine for posting this jewel from the heart of JK Rowling on your own page of pearls, and to Amylia for sending it. You are both such inspiring souls and it is clear you’re committed to living your truth as fully and richly as possible, and sharing so wonderously as well. I have put you on my page, and I know the little circle of readers I have will be as inspired as I continue to be. :o)
June 11th, 2008 3:05 am
Thank you Christine and Amylia! I will watch this again and again. Her humor, candor, humility and incredible ability to use words are a gift to all of us. This was great timing. Thank you thank you
June 11th, 2008 10:39 am
colin –
thanks, but i’m anything but a hero. while i hadn’t hit rock bottom i was seeing more than occasional glimpses of it. the first time was hard enough (http://fivecats.livejournal.com/117702.html); if i were to have to go through it a second time i’m not sure what the outcome would be.
and, no, lessons in adversity don’t always end prettily at all. (luckily, though, they do end)
…
June 11th, 2008 10:49 am
Ok, I went back and I read the speech and now I can see better that she was talking about her journey in life in “non-spiritual” terms. Perhaps she was sensative to her audience? I think I jumped to conclusions and spoke too quickly because I am sensative about deception in our culture today. I have read that she is a member of the Church of Scotland and in the past I had heard she was an atheist…ugh. Again, I think I just spoke too quickly…sorry! I recant and have posted her speech on my blog for others to hear.
June 11th, 2008 3:18 pm
Thanks for sharing Christine.
And Fivecats: I am happy to hear you came out of a very difficult situation and you and your family are well. It looks like you still carry a grudge though (maybe to the US government ? which doesn’t support unemployment or health care when the going get tough like governments do in Europe). I think we all live through our own failures which we classify as more or less hard to take and which other people might consider a piece of cake. I think you learned from it. And I do believe in the saying that everything happens for a reason. I am sure you know what it is or that you will find that reason and thus your peace with it. Good luck.