One of the most popular stories of the ancient world is about a bird called the Phoenix. It lived 500 years at the end of which it would build a nest, enter, and wait for the sun to burn the nest and itself to a pile of ashes. However, a worm would enter right before the sun would burn the nest so that it could drink the juices of the Phoenix as it burned. Then, from the ashes, the worm that had been transformed into a new Phoenix from dinking the juices of the old bird as it burned would rise and fly into the air to live another 500 years. The cycle would repeat.
I can see why the story has circulated from very ancient times. It's so true of life. Even though we may fail many times, we have the ability to rise again from ashes and succeed the next time because we learn from our mistakes. We get better because of our mistakes. It's a paradox, but it has been proven again and again since time immemorial.
For this reason, I listen to the older people that I respect and learn from their failure stories. I pay attention to my own past so that I can learn from the mistakes made. Then I can rise again (fortunately it does not take 500 years for this to occur), wiser this time, and fly the skies once more. Life requires us to learn as we go, to rise from ashes, to experience metamorphasis after tragedy or failure. We rise again from flames that have forged our character.
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