| "Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it | | | | decided that if she were to fail again it was |
| again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4 | | | | a short fall back to rock bottom. Alex |
| | | | decided that rock bottom was the only place |
| I am working on rejoicing today. I read J.K. | | | | to be. It was where he could be free. |
| Rowling's commencement speech at Harvard. It | | | | |
| was a very wonderful message I thought. Her | | | | Alex removed himself from everyone, family, |
| two themes, failure and imagination, made | | | | friends and acquaintances. He went into the |
| connections in my mind to a movie I watched | | | | wild of Alaska and lived out his days alone. |
| over the weekend. | | | | He discovered too late that relationships are |
| | | | what give meaning to life. He discovered in |
| I rented "Into the Wild" on Saturday for the | | | | the wild that loneliness is a trap. I wonder |
| second time. It's the Sean Penn movie about a | | | | how Alex would speak of failure to the |
| kid who graduates from college and then | | | | Harvard graduates today. I wonder if he would |
| disappears on a journey of self-discovery. He | | | | define failure as adhering to society's |
| takes on the name of Alexander Supertramp and | | | | concepts of success or if he would define |
| Alex leaves no trace of where he is going and | | | | failure as isolating yourself from love. |
| he never communicates with his troubled | | | | |
| family again. Alex meets people who seek to | | | | Rowling's second theme was about imagination. |
| connect with him but all along his journey he | | | | She didn't talk about using imagination to |
| only seeks to separate himself again and | | | | build fictional worlds but rather to |
| again. | | | | experience and empathize with the pain of |
| | | | others, to use those feelings to encourage |
| The young man's journey touches on the theme | | | | action to improve the lot of the less |
| of failure that Rowling spoke of at Harvard. | | | | fortunate. Alex lacked empathy. He shielded |
| She experienced failure and overcame it. She | | | | himself from it because of his pain. In every |
| encouraged the young graduates to look at | | | | encounter with the characters he met along |
| failure as a possible outcome of their future | | | | his journey, he failed to empathize with |
| endeavors. Her personal triumph lends a | | | | their pain. He wasn't uncaring but he |
| golden tint to failure; but she encourages | | | | maintained a safe distance from all of them |
| them to see failure as opportunity. Alex | | | | and just when it seemed he might become |
| checks out of life in response to a | | | | connected, he fled, into the night when he |
| prescribed concept of failure; a damning view | | | | could. |
| of failure that labels people as winners and | | | | |
| losers. He chose to select failure in | | | | So rejoice in the opportunities of failure |
| rebellion: he selected his own concept of | | | | and help others to find ways to rejoice as |
| what it meant to be successful. | | | | well; especially those who are in need of |
| | | | being uplifted. Alex wrote before he died |
| Rowling echoed that sentiment but went about | | | | that "Happiness is only real when it's |
| it in a completely different way. She | | | | shared." My message today is to rejoice and |
| described coming to the realization that | | | | to find someone to share your happiness with. |
| failure had set her free, much as Alex set | | | | Trust your failures to teach and not destroy |
| himself free. Rowling described how her | | | | you; and as Rowling did, use rock bottom as |
| decision to write sprang from failure. She | | | | your firm foundation for building anew. |