"Failure"

A few years back, I set a goal: to visit each of the six inhabited continents by the time I turned 25. Today, I come face to face with the fact that I have failed at my goal. Of the six, so far I've only visited four: Europe, Africa, Asia, and my own North America.

Although I must admit my technical failure at having reached this rather ambitious goal, the truth is that I haven't failed at all. I realize now that merely by setting the goal in the first place, I succeeded. Succeeded in committing myself to learning about other places; succeeded in guaranteeing that I would travel more in my first 25 years than most people do in their entire lives.

           

In my effort to see six, I have managed to visit many places on a very respectable four continents. But perhaps more importantly, I've realized just how much there is left to see. I've set foot in precisely 23 different countries around the world—scraping only just the surface of places worth visiting within them—and with each I've become increasingly aware of the far greater number of places that are yet unknown to me.

In my time abroad, I've lived alongside and learned from countless people in other places. I've discovered how to greet people—and how to thank them—in numerous languages other than my first (and yet somehow managed not to master a single one of them). I've tasted more than my fair share of delicious and exotic cuisine, and sampled a few “delicacies” as well. I've watched the sun rise and set across the time zones and hemispheres, and noticed the differences in the waxing and waning of the moon as it's seen from various positions around the globe.

The time I've spent immersed in different cultures has given me the opportunity to realize that when it comes down to it, people everywhere are pretty much the same—we all want the same things—and what differences there are, are superficial and unimportant.

I've also been lucky enough to observe children on each of those four continents—children who are concentrated, engaged, and doing something meaningful, with purpose and attention. I've seen for myself the truth behind Maria Montessori's teachings of the “Universal Child”, the striking similarities which each of our childhoods share, no matter our background or country of origin.

The point of all this? It would appear in my case (and in many other cases, I think) failure isn't failure at all, but rather an opportunity to reflect, re-evaluate, and set new goals. Perhaps it's the biggest goals, the most “unrealistic,” which truly challenge us and push us the furthest. If that's the case, then today I set a new goal: The remaining 173 countries by the time I'm 30. Okay, maybe 40...