No Failure Is To Great

Few failures are as well known as that of Anakin Skywalker, or as he is better known, Darth Vader. Failure – it is something every person, even kids, must deal with. The question is, how will we help them walk through it and ultimately overcome it?

One of the most tragic elements of the Star Wars saga is the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker. When most of us first met him, he was the personification of evil. We had watched him in the first movie effortlessly torture and kill, and were told that the monster we were watching had done the same to Luke’s father.

Through the passage of time, we discovered that this monster was actually Anakin Skywalker. As the story and saga evolved, the prequels showed us an entirely different picture. We saw a caring, giving young man who was set on the path of greatness. While tortured by some “inner demons”, his heart was often in the right place.

As time went on, though, that began to change. Through galactic events, fear, anger, and what he considered “unfair circumstances”, he began to fall away. From Chosen One to Galactic Tyrant, the fall, the failure, was great. Anakin, the one who was suppose to save the Jedi Order, the one who was to bring balance to the force, the one who was the most gifted Jedi in history, failed.

His failure not only destroyed his own future, but destroyed the very Order and Republic he was charged with protecting. This failure plunged the galaxy into decades of darkness, war, and destruction. Few stories have shown the picture of a fall so great and so far reaching as that of Anakin Skywalker.

Yet in spite of this failure, one still held out hope for him – his son, Luke. When we first met Luke, he was a naïve farm-boy. Having never traveled far beyond his uncle’s farm, he dreamed of leaving Tatoonie – his place of “imprisonment” – and traveling to the stars beyond.

A chance meeting with a crazy old man set his feet to a new path. As a rebel he quickly distinguished himself – how many others had blown up a giant planet-sized super weapon?  He also began his training as a Jedi, and after fighting Darth Vader he learned the shocking truth that this evil was his father. Yet even after learning this, Luke believed something that no one else believed – no failure is too great. From the moment Luke realized that this man was his father, he believed that he could be brought back from the dark side.

Whether talking to Yoda, Obi-wan, or even his sister Leia, he knew that he still felt good in his father, and that he could pull him back from the dark side, back from the destructive path on which he was walking.

In the final confrontation with Vader, Luke let this be his guiding principle, and in the end helped save his father. By not only believing this, but letting it guide his actions, Luke was able to show that even when one fails greatly, it does not have to be the end. Even the galaxy’s greatest villain could change course and comeback from failure.

Most of us, at one point or another, have had to deal with failure. Whether a simple mistake or something that has greatly hurt others or our own life, we have all been in the place when we have failed. In that failure, we had a choice, we could either stay down and let that failure destroy us or define us, or we could chart a new course and overcome the fall we had made.

Many times, the choice we make is aided or hampered by those surrounding us. No matter where you find yourself, there will always be those who want to “kick you when you are down” – the ones who will relish in your failure, and who will claim that you can never recover.

But there will also be those who believe in you, who seek to help you overcome that failure – that is what our children and those in our life need from us. No matter how great and talented they are there will come a time in which they will fail. As parents, friends, spouses, etc., we have to help them see that no matter the mistake, they can still overcome. They can still change, still try again, and still succeed.

They must know that no mistake is too great, and that no matter how bad they mess up, they can still get up and overcome that failure. This is the lesson in Anakin’s life, and it is one we must pass on to our younglings and those our lives touch. If we, or they, do not learn this lesson, the failure will become something that cripples and it will become a hill and obstacle that is insurmountable.

Sadly, many people, adults and children, live life in this place. Failure becomes something that defines them instead of something to be learned from and overcome. As parents, especially, we must help our children understand and walk this path. We must be there when they fail to encourage them to get up and overcome the defeat that they are facing. We must help them see that failure can be one of the greatest teachers and blessings of life.

Also, our children need to know that there is someone who will stand up for them, and with them, as they walk these difficult paths. Luke, even though he did not in any way approve of his father’s actions, was still willing to stand up and be there to help his father take those first steps to get “back on track”. Our children need to know that there is one who will do this for them as well.

So how are you doing this? How have you helped your child overcome failure? Is this something you have struggled with in your life? Have you watch failure cripple your life or the life of your child? Do you feel you can overcome failure? Are you there for others when they slip and fall?

These are all important questions for us to answer. How we answer, and live these things out will determine how we help others, especially our younglings. We all fail. What happens after that, though, is what is really important. Failure and mistakes are events from which we learn, or they can be something that defines and debilitates us, but we are the ones that choose. Just like Luke, we must believe that no failure is too great.