Everytime You Fall

Describe a setback, failure, or ethical dilemma you have faced. How did you resolve it? What impact did it have on you? What would you do differently if you could go back in time?


In the words of the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising each time we fall." Whether in ancient days or the present, this phrase holds true for all of humanity. It holds true for my life as well, as I came to realize early last spring. I had already been writing as a staff member of The Tower newspaper staff for two years at that time. Our prestigious paper had won numerous awards, and I had even traveled to the Big Apple for a week to accept a handful of them with about a dozen other staff members.

But I had become too comfortable with my position, and had fallen into too deep of a rut. I will admit it: towards the end of my second year I really started to slack off. I made the inappropriate assumption that our advisor would never cut me, for I was an experienced member who had already been on staff for two years. I turned in my application for my third year on staff with little worry. I was shocked and upset to tears when I received a letter one month later informing me that I had been cut from next year's staff. Looking back on it now, though, I can remember that deep inside me, I was not all that surprised at being cut - I knew I had been guilty of...

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