I Failed the first Test

Our Drivers Ed class at my High school consisted of learning the rule book so we could pass the exam for our learners permit.  At that time, the age to obtain your drivers license was 18, but it has since been lowered to 16.  Many schools now offer an instructor and special cars to teach the students to drive properly.

Our High school did not provide us with a real car and a trainer, so my dad became my instructor. Dad worked for the railroad and he often did switching of the box cars at the Safeway warehouse. Their parking lot was large and he knew that on the week end it would be empty.

One week end, Dad drove me there in our old Chevy, with its clutch system, and started my lessons. Naturally I jerked the old car many times before I learned to gently release my foot slowly from the clutch pedal.

When Dad decided I was ready to drive in traffic, he taught me to safely make a left turn and how to judge the distance of other drivers. The hard part was learning to back into a parallel parking place. We practiced with only one car that was already parked, and I learned to pull in behind it with only a few smooth moves.

My mother took me to the DMV for my scheduled driving test, and the lady seemed nice as I took her for my test ride. She had me make a left turn, and in those days, you stuck out your arm to signal your directions. I did fine. Then she had me do the parallel parking and I made some stop and go attempts that did not please her.

Sorry to say, I failed my first driving test, and was rescheduled for a later date; at which time I did pass with flying colors.

Just because I failed once, that did not stop me from trying again. I was determined to leave behind any fears, and to press on until I reached success.

That sort of attitude is a good one to latch on to. If you fall, get up!

If you spill something clean it up and make a new effort.

If at first you don’t succeed, Try, and try again; is an excellent truism to keep in mind.

If you fail at something, it may be time to study some more, and do extra research on your project.

Your part is to study, to learn and to practice, and God promises to help you. God’s part is that He will bring to your remembrance those things that you need to know.

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure... it just means you haven't succeeded yet. ~Robert Schuller

You always pass failure on your way to success. ~Mickey Rooney