[A Sip of Books] Humans Are ‘Failing Animals’… Falling Is Not Failure

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

This is a foundational and comprehensive book on the study of failure, systematically compiled by lawyer Choi Jaecheon, a former National Assembly member (17th and 19th sessions) who has been actively working across the legal, political, academic, and cultural fields for six years by collecting and analyzing various failure cases. Its purpose is to motivate new challenges beyond vague fears of failure. It covers failure cases from individuals to companies, society, and the nation, examining their root causes and alternatives.

The world is thoroughly composed of networks of relationships. It is not easy to distinguish where my responsibility ends and another's begins. The principle of responsibility for failure means that I am responsible only when I have made a mistake. Would you easily agree if you were told to take responsibility for a failed project even though you did nothing wrong, did not do anything, and received no help from those around you? You should only be responsible for the mistakes you made.

-p.31~32

Did I decide to participate in the game? No. In many cases, I was pushed into participation. Did I take part in making the rules of the game? No. Most likely, the rules were given. Then, did I fully agree with the rules of the game? Sometimes I understood and agreed, but often I agreed reluctantly or jumped in without fully understanding. Can this also be called my life? Of course, universal goals, universal rules, and universal systems exist. Must I fully accept that universality? No. 'My life is mine.' I am the most precious being under the sky. I fully decide the direction, goals, and efforts of my life. Therefore, life should not be driven like a race.

-p.47

Life is an accumulation of countless trials and errors. Like a mosaic, failure and success intersect to draw my true self. Yet, we obsess over each act and its result at all times and fall into impatience. Although failure is an obligation, a right, and a freedom, some live shackled by failure and obsessed with success.

-p.87~88

Achieving Failure | Written by Choi Jaecheon | Minumin | 256 pages | 14,000 KRW