My initial reaction was to feel bad about these kids. Then I remembered about Theodore Roosevelt's speech about the man in the arena, and I congratulate them for giving it their best shot. Whether they continue or not, it was worth trying and they've had an amazing experience in the process.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Frankly, I think you're stretching the applicability of this speech (which by itself is one of the greatest ones ever) by lumping the Diaspora guys in there.
Look at it this way: should the guy who sells his house and jeopardizes his family's future to buy a plot of land in Alaska to mine it for gold with a pick axe and a sieve be lauded as 'the hero in the arena'? Or is he just an idiot with poor judgement?
I get your point, but I think that's actually well within the scope of the quote. Someone tried to do something and failed, while onlookers point out why it was a bad idea to even try.
The quote isn't meant to absolve those who try of responsibility or even to nullify criticism; it's meant to help counter-balance the steady stream of nay-saying one is subjected to when trying just about anything with any visibility at all.
>My initial reaction was to feel bad about these kids.
Definitely not. They got funding to spend a year working on a dream project and they build a project that is now the 7th most watched on Github. They're doing quite alright.
Comments
My initial reaction was to feel bad about these kids. Then I remembered about Theodore Roosevelt's speech about the man in the arena, and I congratulate them for giving it their best shot. Whether they continue or not, it was worth trying and they've had an amazing experience in the process.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Frankly, I think you're stretching the applicability of this speech (which by itself is one of the greatest ones ever) by lumping the Diaspora guys in there.
Look at it this way: should the guy who sells his house and jeopardizes his family's future to buy a plot of land in Alaska to mine it for gold with a pick axe and a sieve be lauded as 'the hero in the arena'? Or is he just an idiot with poor judgement?
I get your point, but I think that's actually well within the scope of the quote. Someone tried to do something and failed, while onlookers point out why it was a bad idea to even try.
The quote isn't meant to absolve those who try of responsibility or even to nullify criticism; it's meant to help counter-balance the steady stream of nay-saying one is subjected to when trying just about anything with any visibility at all.
>My initial reaction was to feel bad about these kids.
Definitely not. They got funding to spend a year working on a dream project and they build a project that is now the 7th most watched on Github. They're doing quite alright.
These guys are young, and got a taste of the limelight. But the sooner they realize they're not going to kill Facebook and move on, the better.
Theodore Roosevelt (for those of us who had to look it up)
"Then I remembered about Theodore Roosevelt's speech" kind of gave it away. :-)