The Right to Fail

I believe that people have the right to fail. I’m not saying people should, I’m saying people can. In America, there’s an entrepreneurial spirit; people can get a loan, start a business, and see that flourish. But why does the government subsidize unprofitable companies? Companies that don’t innovate, that don’t change, that don’t think about the future but rather try to regain their past glory days. I’m looking at you Amtrak. One could look at all the failures in our society and then look at what resulted from that failure. No one ever said change was going to be easy, but in the end, it all came together, better than ever.

The best example is my father and his trek thru life. He started out in Poland, communist, economically and politically failing Poland of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Needless to say, he wanted out. He dreamed great plans and ideas, ways that he could emigrate from Poland to countries far away, countries that provide opportunity. He set his sights for the United States. Well, he received a travel permit, and left the country and was due back in a few weeks in the communist state. But he never returned till it was a democracy.

He temporarily moved to Italy, where he started working accumulating money for his travel and his stay. He saw Rome, Monte Casino, the Vatican, and countless other wonders. Eventually his paperwork went thru and was able to move to the United States. He decided to settle in San Diego, there he started out, first working any job he could find, whether it was a janitor or as a contractor for a day at a company; anything to start out. He hit many bumps in the road, and those are the bumps he learned from. How to do business better, how to provide a better service, how to please and talk to a customer, from every mistake he learned from it, and the lessons he learned are invaluable to him. He eventually had my mom move to the United States as well. At that point they decided to move to Chicago, a place with more jobs and more Polish people, our people.

In Chicago, ever since my dad started here and to this day, he incurs problem after problem, and challenge after challenge. But still he works on, and every time he finds a solution, he learns something new, and next time he faces the challenge, he responds to it better. That is what I am talking about; people have the right to fail, because people have the right to learn. The moment society becomes complacent in subsidizing a failed policy, it’s the moment society has robbed our people of the ability to think and learn for themselves. People have the right to fail, so that they can succeed.