Even when we fail at something, it’s not a total loss as long as we learn something. Unless nobody survives. I was interested to hear a report on the South Korean ship that sank in which they listed a few people as having died but over one hundred missing. We like to minimize catastrophe by suggesting that people can be both alive and missing at sea. It’s part of our resistance around death. That resistance is why we suffer so much when we are confronted by the reality of death. Part of our spiritual practice needs to be contemplating our death long before we have to face the reality of it.