The Other 99

  You can give in, you can give out, but you don't give up.

Several years ago, I was privileged to be in the audience of a Barry Manilow concert in Oklahoma City.  Did you just chuckle?  I have enjoyed Manilow's singing since high school in the 80s, and I especially like his more inspirational songs.  I don't think The Other 99 is one of his original songs, but it was the first time I had heard it.  To introduce the song, Manilow described his ascendancy in the music industry, telling how he started as an accompanist for people auditioning as singers.  During that time, he said, he noticed that only one out of a hundred got a job.  In his observations from a position sitting behind a piano, he studied the other 99 and learned from their tenacity and perseverance.

I learned more from failure than I learned from success.
I learned from no thank you, so much more than from yes.
I learned to be willing to lead with my chin.
And if I were willing to lose, I could win.

I learned from the losers who got right back in line.
The dimmer their future, than the brighter they'd shine.
Three cheers for the one, the one in a hundred.
But God bless the other 99.

It's a hard thing to learn.  It's a hard thing to go through.  And we probably have to look back on our failures before we learn from them.  I wonder, though, if it is possible to learn while we are experiencing the struggle.  Is it possible to learn and adapt during the event?

One thing I hope to instill in my students is the idea that we can also learn from the mistakes of others (the main reason for studying history, in my opinion).  After all, I don't have time to make all the mistakes on my own, and if I can avoid making the mistakes in the first place, I should take advantage of that opportunity.

We all have a lot to learn from the other 99.