I came back from university thinking I knew all about politics and racism not knowing my dad had been one of the youngest-serving Labour councillors in the town and had refused to work in South Africa years ago because of the situation there. And he's never mentioned it - you just find out. That's a real man to me. A sleeping lion.
It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all in which case you have failed by default.