Failure is the Best Gift for Youth (Part 1)

When he was discharged from the military, he only had a high school education and no special skills, so he ended up working as a "delivery man" at a printing company. One day, this young man was delivering a whole truckload of forty to fifty bundles of books to a seventh-floor office at a certain university. As he carried two or three bundles to the elevator entrance to wait, a security guard in his fifties walked over and said, "This elevator is for professors and teachers only. No one else is allowed to use it. You have to take the stairs." The young man explained to the guard, "I'm not a student. I'm here to deliver a whole truckload of books to the seventh-floor office. These are books your university ordered!" But the guard said with an unfeeling expression, "No means no. You are neither a professor nor a teacher, so you are not allowed to use the elevator." The two argued at the elevator for a long time, but the guard still wouldn't let him pass. The young man thought that moving all these books would require at least twenty trips up and down seven flights of stairs, which would be exhausting. Later, unable to bear this "unreasonable harassment," the young man made up his mind, left the forty to fifty bundles of books in a corner of the lobby, and walked away. Afterward, the young man explained the situation to the owner of the printing company, who understood. However, he resigned from his job and immediately went to a bookstore to buy a complete set of high school textbooks and reference books. With tears in his eyes, he vowed, "I will study hard and get into university. I will never let anyone look down on me again." For six months before the college entrance exam, this young man studied fourteen hours a day behind closed doors. He knew his time was running out and he had no other choice. Whenever he felt lazy or slack, he would recall the humiliating and discriminatory moment when the "guard wouldn't let him use the elevator."