Redefining “failure” and embracing our imperfections

Tom Ross, Year 12

“Failure”, by definition, refers to “lack of success or the inability to meet an expected or required outcome.”

The idea of failing a test, failing to win a match in school sport, or failing to get the lead role in the play are feelings and ideas which resonate with every single student who wears the green and gold.

But, I think it’s time we started to celebrate imperfection.

What makes Trinity such a great environment is our individuality. Everyone brings something new to the table. Everyone, yes everyone, (including School Captain Michael Fan, albeit fewer than most people) has flaws. Unfortunately, nobody at Trinity is perfect. Everyone has had that test result, has missed out on that role in the school play or has lost that game of school sport. That’s life. We shouldn’t expect to win or be the best at everything we do. And nor should we want to.

As the saying goes, 'If everyone was the same, the world would be a boring place'. Our imperfections and our failures are what set us apart from the next person.

By no stretch of the imagination am I close to being perfect. My friends aren’t perfect – they can drive me crazy at times. Neither are my teachers perfect – take Mr Hildebrandt’s brutal but fair marking of my Legal questions, or Mrs Fewster’s occasional tendency to stray away from teaching an English class to talk about hockey for a period as examples. Nor do I want them to be perfect.

If nothing else, our imperfections and our failures give us the ability to improve. They highlight to us that we can always be looking to better ourselves. The road to perfection is littered with inevitable potholes of failure. We should look to embrace these failures and imperfections as we strive to become the best versions of ourselves. We can all learn from our mistakes and our failures.

I encourage anyone patient enough to have read this piece to its conclusion to do one thing: next time you get that disheartening test score back, lose that game of school sport, or miss out on that part in the school play, look at it not as a blemish or a shortcoming on yourself, but as an inevitable and valuable piece that makes us individuals.

I encourage you to embrace your shortcomings, whether your own, your best mate’s or someone's at school you’ve never spoken to, as ultimately, they are what make us who we are.

Finlay White, Year 12

My art, titled ' Unstrung ' aims to convey the feeling of wavering composure. This is something which we often experience in our day-today lives through school and work. It is the sacrifice we make in the hopes to succeed and was intended to be an expression of an emotion that is often felt by me, along with my friends and classmates.

I conveyed my idea through colour, texture and form to show both the facial expression of the emotion, as well as a more symbolic and expressive snapshot of the mind, making them work together to create one cohesive piece.

My use of a calm colour pallet contrasted with the harsh textures they formed is full of symbolic meaning to draw an emotive response from the audience. Stippling was another technique used to convey the form of my subject that I wouldn't be able to achieve with other techniques.