This is a great failure!

The Swedish warship Vasa sank almost immediately after sailing from Stockholm harbour in 1628. Commissioned by the King of Sweden, Vasa was meant to be one of the most powerful armed vessels in the world. At least 15 people died in the tragedy and many resources were wasted, not to mention the king’s embarrassment . This was considered a big failure! An inquest was ordered by the king who had approved the design and measurement of the ship. Several factors contributed to the disaster including the design of the ship (stability, gravity issues, width to length ratio etc), in addition to being overloaded with 72 heavy bronze cannons, too many for its size. No one took the blame for the disaster, and the inquest could not determine the real cause of it. The ship’s contractor had died before the work was completed.

In the 1950’s, Vasa was located just outside Stockholm harbour and was salvaged (in 1961) largely intact. The ship was found in a surprisingly good condition after 333 years at the bottom of the sea . After an elaborate conservation process, the ship has been on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. I was one of the lucky 35 million visitors who have enjoyed an up close and personal experience with the ship. This visit has been my most memorable and enjoyable museum experience ever.

What was considered a big failure, created opportunities 333 years later! The recovery of the ship and items in it provided an important insight about how people lived in the 17th century. The ship’s recovery process is a celebrated scientific success, and Vasa is the world’s best preserved 17th century ship . The museum today is a major attraction in Sweden and is generating income for people working in the tourism industry. Probably few people could see this coming in 1628. The story of Vasa sparked many questions in my mind about success and failure.

Life gives us the wonderful gift of learning and turning failures to successes. This requires time, creative thinking, and new perspectives. There is no success without failure. Think of them as two sides of the same coin. Sometimes society speaks of these two notions as if they are completely separate from each other. Life is about learning , and learning is about failing as much as it is about succeeding.

After visiting Vasa, I looked back at the many incidents I deemed as total failures in my past. Too many examples came to my mind. I tried to look at them from different perspectives, and to determine whether they eventually led to anything positive in my life. It was not very easy or straightforward at first, in fact it was very uncomfortable to remember all my failures at once! but I was able to count several positive actions I have taken as a result of these events. Actions that I took to help me feel better, to redeem myself, or to challenge how others perceived me. On the whole, I feel more at ease when I look back at my ‘failures’ now, and I found a sense of forgiveness towards my mistakes and shortcomings because who knows what they will turn me into in the future!