Is What It Is Productions

Face It With A Grin (Smilers Never Lose and Frowners Never Win)

Jun 17, 2002

Ironically, as I hope to illustrate in a moment, one of the pre-show songs I selected for IWII's latest venture "The Curious Savage" is Frente!'s (or is it "Frentes!"?) cover song from The Flintstones: "Open Up Your Heart." The chorus is "Open up your heart and let the sun shine in."

Which is what we all should do. And when we don't, the results are disasterous.

Here's the key: if your heart isn't in it, don't expect quality. Whether it is working your day job, or volunteering at the animal shelter, or being involved in a play, the heart must be present. Only the heart and its constituents--faith, hope, endurance, perserverence--will see you through the day. Trust me on this one, kiddies.

Can great things be accomplished without heart? Certainly. But the potential is far greater when love is involved.

So why bring this up now? It comes down to failure. But as painful as failure might be, I like to think we will not be judged on our failures -- but rather, how we respond to them. Do we throw in the towel and call it a day? Or do we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and make a note to avoid the things that knocked us down in the first place? (Avoid or confront, whichever may be called for.)

For me personally, failure is not something I take lightly nor respond positively to. The response to my latest and greatest failure (depending on who you ask, anyway) is yet to be determined, and will likely be an amalgamation of emotions and reactions: different per the person, time, and place. Which is fine. The only thing that will really matter is what I choose to do with this particular shortcoming.

Here's to opening up our hearts and letting the sun shine in.