A letter for my daughter
Dear Ning-Ning,
You learned a lesson worth learning yesterday. You were learning the Rubik's cube through Youtube and had lots of fun. I saw you keep rewinding the video and spent almost one and a half hour on your Rubik's cube. But when you were almost done, the two pieces left made you frustrated and impatient. You switched those two pieces, trying to lie to yourself and make yourself feel better. But then you found out that since you tried to pretend your success, you actually changed the rule of Rubik's cube. At the end, you had to take the whole Rubik's cube apart, trying to set it right, but failed. You ended up having to buy a new Rubik's cube because you broke the original one.
Seeing the frustration and tears in your eyes, I actually thought it's a good opportunity for you to learn a lesson. I'd rather you face your failure honestly and ask for help than embrace the victory dishonestly and deal with the aftermath later. Success takes time, effort and most important of all, mistakes. You need to make enough mistakes to learn the knack of success. And when you finally succeed, you can then feel truly joyful.
It took you some bucks to buy a new Rubik's cube, but I think you learned a lesson that you'll never forget. For that, I congratulate you. And I hope you keep this in mind: Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. I hope I can see you wear a big smile when you solve your new Rubik's cube.
Love,
Mom