Common Reading 2023: Home

Read the Anthology

"We all fail - it's not a matter of If, but When. But the fact that we fail is not all that important (or interesting). It's much more important what our attitudes towards failure and our response to it are.”

- Peter Dadalt, Assistant Professor of Finance and Analytics

Failure is inevitable. It is a regularly occurring part of the human experience: we fail as we learn new skills; we fail as we develop new tools; we fail as we strive to attain goals. The tradition of failure as a human accomplishment is well reflected in our history and values. Most US children are familiar with the adage “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” coined by Thomas H. Palmer in his 1840 Teacher's Manual, and most of us can recite a list of famous flops who later hit the big time. Thomas Edison is reported to have failed 1,000 times to create a working lightbulb. Stephen King’s Carrie was rejected by 30 publishers before going on to be one of his bestselling works. Before she was crowned Queen B, Beyonce Knowles’ first musical group Girls Thyme lost Star Search.

But even as we know failure is an expected and important part of human growth and development, failure sometimes feels like the worst-case scenario—something to avoid at all costs. We fear that failure will strand us, embarrass us, delay us, or ruin us. In SU’s Common Reading Anthology “Learning from Failure,” we aim to unravel failure from fear and stigma to demonstrate the ways that failure leads to growth, development, flexibility, and innovation. We hope to showcase failures that became successes; failures that taught us about ourselves or others; failures that changed us. We acknowledge the challenges of failure, living with loss, coping with setbacks, and letting go of what we hoped might be.

This year’s theme of Learning from Failure was nominated by Peter Dadalt, an Assistant professor of Finance and Analytics at SU.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

Listen to Anthem, a Leonard Cohen song about making peace with imperfections and having hope in dark times.

(Full Audio Version on YouTube)

(Live Performance of Anthem)

Lyrics

The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be

Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again
The dove is never free

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah, and the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see

I can't run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
A thundercloud
They're going to hear from me

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

You can add up the parts
But you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in