Somebody once asked Winston Churchill what most prepared him to risk political suicide by speaking out against Hitler during the years of appeasement in the mid-1930s, then to lead Great Britain against Nazi Germany. Churchill said it was the time he had to repeat a grade in elementary school.

“You mean you failed a year in grade school?” He was asked.

“I never failed anything in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it right.”

Ortberg, John. If you Want to Walk on Water, you’ve got to Get Out of the Boat.. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001, p. 22,23.