The Nobility of Failure | R. Lanier Britsch | 1999

This speech was given on June 29, 1999.

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https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/r-lanier-britsch/nobility-failure/

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"At the outset I want to make one thing clear. I love competition, and I like winning more than losing. My friends with whom I play racquetball know that I hate to miss a single shot (even though I miss many), much less lose a game or series. I am a quietly competitive kind of guy. But I have been perplexed by the idea that is current in our time and among many members of the Church that “winning is everything.” I believe that in an ultimate sense, the eternal sense, this is true. But along the path, as we work our way toward our eternal salvation, is winning, is success, is making more money, is acquiring more things, is knowing more, is having the highest degrees, is holding the very top position, is being assistant to the mission president, is having more baptisms while serving as a missionary really what life is all about? My talk today centers on the worth of serving well and doing our best and then allowing the Lord to count the value of our sacrifice.

In the early 1960s, shortly after I married my wife, JoAnn, an important experience happened in our family. My older brother, Todd, was selected as a member of the BYU College Bowl team to participate