This had to be my worst performance ever. I should have practiced harder I thought to myself. My hands were numb and sweating and my mridangam playing was shaky at best. The vocalist and the violinist were in tune and in perfect harmonyl while my cacophonous noises perhaps scared some people away. I was playing my mridangam in at a local Indian Classical concert and I realized my tempo and rhythm were off. It was embarrassing. My persistent trepidation kept me from performing well. Afterwards, people came up to me with smiles and said, "Well done, Bharath!" I weakly smiled, but I knew they did not mean that. Needless to say, after the performance, I was dejected, my confidence to play shattered. Giving up would have seemed the easiest option at that point. I disliked those people who would remark that it doesn't matter if you fail, just try again. Easier said than done. "How would they know what it means to fail?"
After some time I came down from my room for dinner. I was walking aimlessly until I came upon an ant. A small, tiny ant tried to make its way across my dining room floor. Each and every step of the way I saw it (add was maybe? doesn't make sense as is obstructed by small pieces of things (anything better?) or my family walking by. At one point, a small unknown particle of food or something blocked the ant. The ant tried to hopelessly to move it and tried again and again. I laughed, watching the poor creature as it persevered in its endeavor until finally this small, unintelligent ant did something that even I could not do-it overcame its obstacle.
I then realized and learned from the wise ant the necessity of perseverance. I then realized the true essence of the quote which I wrote above dont use realized twice in a row). One will always fail at some point in his or her life; however, the courage to learn from that past failure, surmount it and then proceed on with my goals was necessary to be successful (went from his or her to my, pick one and stick with it in the sentence). Giving up would not get me farther (further..farther is distance) and neither would moping about my failure. I failed, so what? It was my turn to practice harder, be ambitious, and set a new goal for myself. Even in this process I realized at some point I would fail, and I knew I would be dejected, for failure is not easy to cope with. But I did know now that I would try again, and quite possibly fail again, but this time I would fail better. Maybe one time after I had persevered, I would proceed and make my way much like how that weak but strong ant had done.
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