Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Academy/Frustration and disappointment

"For myself I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else." Winston Churchill spoke these words in 1954 after a lifetime of struggling with crippling depression, the depths of which proved to be a stark contrast to the heights of his ambitions. Despite this incredible impediment, Churchill accomplished truly remarkable things in the course of his life. While the magnitude of his struggles and successes are in almost all certainty far greater than a typical Wikipedian will experience in the course of their contributions to Wikipedia, Churchill's life is still a human story which many can draw upon for guidance and inspiration. In fact, it is even a story from which we as members of the Military history WikiProject can benefit: simply put, how we approach a group endeavor as individuals will dictate our success as whole.



Take this example. During the First World War, after the failure of his plan to seize the Dardanelles Straits and his subsequent demotion from being the First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill did not retreat into a malaise of depression and apathy to assuage his disappointment; he actively sought to rehabilitate his reputation by taking command of a battalion of infantry on the Western Front.

The lesson we should take from this (as individual contributors) is that in the face of disappointment and failure, continued effort is the best course of action. If you are passionate about the work we do in the MILHIST project, if you enjoy the time you spend contributing to articles or participating in discussion, if you find it edifying to click that "Save page" button at the bottom of each edit page with the knowledge that doing so will add a little more to the sum total of knowledge on Wikipedia—do not let anything keep you from continuing to do so. So what if some editor, with enough bias to think you are the Antichrist and enough skill in editing to be a pain in the ass about it, decides to attack you over your last contribution? So what if your most recent proposal was just shot down like a hypoglycemic goose in hunting season? So what if the task force you have been working with for the past six months has just adopted some extremely shortsighted policies? So what? That is a question, not a dismissal. It is a challenge to act, not an omen foretelling failure. Situations such as these in Wikipedia, as in life, are brick walls meant to test our desire to get over them and to a great extent meant to test our characters.

If you run into a brick wall while contributing to Wikipedia, ask yourself how you are going to handle the obstacle in front of you before anything else. Are you going to retreat from your setbacks in frustration? Are you going to retaliate recklessly against others in blind rage? Or are you going to try your best to address the situation with an even temperament and a steady hand? In any group effort such as ours, it is all too simple to become engrossed in petty squabbles and bitter disappointments. If you truly enjoy and value the work you do on Wikipedia, do not lose sight of the forest through the trees—the more you excessively indulge in those vices of frustration and disappointment, you will find that you do not enjoy the work you do here.

When faced with disappointments and frustrations in Wikipedia and the MILHIST project, keep in mind what Walter Elliot once said: "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another." Perhaps it should be said of Wikipedia that perseverance is many short edits, one after another.