A short and wonderfully important message from Courtney Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, about the underestimated value of failure. The quote in her video about the intersection of one’s talents and the world’s needs is an old one in many forms, and my favorite version isn’t from Cornel West, but from Frederick Buechner: “Where our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet, we hear a further call.”
If you want to move “further up and further in” on your journey (as C.S. Lewis wrote), you’ll probably need your share of failures and fuck-ups. This is something that young women afflicted with the Martha Complex really need to hear. (See this related post of mine: One mistake will not “ruin your lifeâ€: thoughts on “onesies†and the myth of female frailty)
I have such a huge girl crush on Courtney! I hadn’t heard her speak until this. So cute and awesome and wise. Thanks for introducing me to her work.