I'm a Failure

Jason couldn’t sleep much after their encounter with Elliott. He kept replaying the conversation over and over in his head. He had become a little frustrated with himself for not seeing this on his own. He felt like a corn maze failure. If it wasn’t for Freddy he would have let the whole community down.

As thoughts continued to swirl through his head, they were interrupted by the worst sound in the world. The blaring horns of his alarm. He hated the sound of any alarm. But today was a little different. He was already awake. So, at least the horns didn’t pull him out of a deep sleep.?

Getting out of bed to get ready to meet Freddy. He tried waking Myers up. No luck, Myers just looked his way and rolled back over and went to sleep. “Lazy dog!” Jason yelled at Myers as he headed out of his room, down the old squeaky wooden stairs. When he got the bottom he peeked out the curtains and there was Freddy on the porch swing sipping his coffee.?

Jason grabbed his heavy jacket and walked outside to greet Freddy. Before Jason could say anything. Fresh held his index finger in front of his mouth, silently instructing Jason to be quiet.?

Standing up from the swing Freddy walked over toward Jason. He handed him a fresh cup of coffee and he whispered, “ Morning Jason, I got here a little early to do some observations.”?

Jason looked around and didn’t see Freddy’s truck anywhere. “Where’s your truck?” Jason asked.?

“Well I wanted to go undetected so I parked about a half mile from the entrance to your driveway and walked.” Jason's mouth almost hit the wooden deck they were standing on.?

“You walked?” Jason asked in a shocked tone. “ Jason, I’m old, not dead. This body is still holding up and as long as the good Lord allows me another day I’ll keep pushing! Speaking of pushing, we better get moving.”?

The two took off toward the maze with the moonlight guiding them. Freddy whispered, “Jason how'd you sleep?” Jason looked him right in the eyes, “Not well, I don’t think I slept at all. I just laid there feeling like a failure for not recognizing and fixing this on my own.”?

Freddy stopped walking and grabbed Jason by both shoulders and gave him a shake! “ Listen Jason, I want to be clear you are not a failure. Even if the maze got destroyed tomorrow you would not be a failure. However, I do like projects or ideas that fail.” Jason was trying to follow along, so he just stayed quiet.?

“Failures can create great lessons and friends. My mentor told me that, Success gives you the friends that you want. But failures give you the friends that you need.”

Jason's face lights up, “ You mean like me coming to you. Had everything been going well I wouldn’t have needed to come ask for your help?”?

Freddy cracked a smile through his white beard which was glowing in the moonlight. “That’s exactly right. There are seasons of success and you will acquire new friends that will help you navigate through your successes and introduce you to new and exciting things. Then you will have failures which will open the door for a needed friend to come and consult and comfort you through that failure. I don’t want you to look at success and failures. Instead look at the network of individuals each had provided and the lessons learned so you can become someone’s friend in either scenario.”

Jason felt like a hay bale was just lifted off his back. He felt like the whole community was counting on him and he didn’t want to fail and let them down.?

Freddy paused and looked into Jason’s eyes and could see relief. He continued, “Like friends Jason, communities are there to celebrate your wins and pick you up after your losses. Communities are more concerned with your wellbeing than your successes!”?

Jason was transported back to his senior year of high school football. They had gone undefeated and had beaten their rival for the first time in eighteen years. When they beat the St. Clair bobcats the entire student section rushed the field to celebrate with the team. This undefeated season led them to the first playoff ranking in school history. They would be facing the North Hill Indians. A team who had many years of experience in playoff settings. Needless to say North Hill was too big and too fast and too experienced for his team. Even though they lost, the student section still ran out on the field. This time instead of celebrating and jumping and yelling, there were lots of hugs and congratulations on a great season.?

After this quick time travel Jason knew exactly what Freddy was talking about. “Thanks for that Freddy. I just needed to change my perspective on the situation. I have not looked at failure as a positive thing before. I guess society praises success so much on social media that becomes the standard.”?

Freddy laughed, “ Your generation with their tic tacs, and face space, and the blue bird. If Thomas Edison would have posted about each attempt he made at inventing the light bulb. People would have had to follow him for 1,000 failed posts before they saw the very first light bulb! But imagine the resources he could have had access to if he had the entire world in his hands. I bet you it wouldn’t have taken 1000 attempts. But either way there would have been lessons learned, friends made, and a community cheering on his next go.”

Jason thought about it for a minute and said, “So it sounds like we should put our failures on display?” Freddy waited a moment and responded, “Failures do have purpose when you put them on display. They keep you humble and vulnerable. More people can relate to failures than successes. When you can become a leader that is relatable you become a leader that can truly connect with your team. Failures have a way of bringing people together.”?

All the sudden they heard a loud noise and they saw corn stocks shaking! Then it was quiet, Jason and Freddy froze trying to not give away their location.?

A small breeze brought some whispering their way. They leaned in to hear the conversation. It was Gage who had shaken Elliott off his post.?

“Elliott, can you believe Jason went and got this Freddy guy to come in and talk to us. Why couldn’t he just leave us alone? Jason has no idea what’s actually happening out here. We run this field not them. And what’s up with Luke he is never around. He is always wandering off, leaving us to pick up the slack. Jesse is more worried about his performance against everyone else’s. You know what he told me. He said you stuff your biceps, that you didn’t actually work for them. And now these two guys…”?

Elliott stepped up to Gage and forcefully interrupted Gage. “ And what? And what Gage? You know Freddy and Jason are out here trying to help us become the best versions of ourselves. It was hard for me to hear their feedback at first. Then I realized that they were here to have my back and not attack. I think you need to do a little more worrying about the other posts and start watching over yours. I suggested you head back to your post.”

Gage shouted, “ Or what!” Elliott stepped to Gage and looked him square in his eyes, “ Or you may not be here to see opening day. I have Freddy and Jason’s back. If the four of us can’t come together to protect this maze then we will need to find someone who is proud to take that post and builds up the team around them.”?

Gage with nothing to say turned around and ran through the stocks.?

Freddy grabbed Jason and pulled his shirt sleeve motioning him to take a knee. “ Would you look at that! Elliott stepped up and shut Gage down! You can see number one becoming your number one. When a team can start to hold each other accountable. That’s the exact progress we are looking to see. But I will tell you this Gage is a problem! Hurry, let's see if we can get to Luke before we handle Jesse.”?

Jason nodded and the two crept closer to the number two post.?