Nothing can change one’s perspective like failure. Failure has the power to either break a person or make them; in other words, it has the ability to discourage them or challenge them to be better. In my life there have been more failures than I would care to admit, but none have astounded me quite as much as this one had, and it all began in my junior year. There was an English teacher: He showed me new perspectives and ideas; unknowingly pushed me to confront my most inner self, and challenged me to rethink everything I thought I knew. His class uniquely combined the two outcomes of failure; first it broke me, then it dared me to beat it.
When I first walked in to Mr. Mark L. Bail’s classroom; I knew that he was a teacher I wanted to have.
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For the most part it seemed true, Hamlet was relatively easy and I did well on the exams. One can imagine my surprise when I received a B on my first paper. I immediately scanned the pages looking for any mistake that would indicate this wasn’t my paper and that I certainly wasn’t the author. I had never done so poorly on a subject I thought I understood so well, I looked for inaccuracies in my Hamlet paper: misquotes, typos, grammar issues. After searching for minutes I came to the harsh reality; nothing was amiss and this was my paper, but what was wrong with it?
I stayed after class and he made me read it again, and again, and again until I finally realized that even I found myself disagreeing with my overview of Hamlet and Death. I had been inflated with a false sense of confidence when it came to my writing ability, I had just assumed that he would be content with my writing, even impressed with it. Yet, I had put forth no individual effort to impress him. Several days later, I fixed it and received a 92, which I was certainly pleased with, but not satisfied, and I knew satisfaction would not come unless I presented him with something truly