Fake News

Cheryl Gowin and Dennis Gowin.  Call us at our counseling practice with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions at 434-808-2637.

Have you ever received the advice, don’t believe everything you hear?  Well, in some cases, that is good advice.  Would you like a few examples?

The Atlantic Magazine’s critical analysis of Emily Dickinson poetry included the comments, “she possessed an extremely unconventional and grotesque fancy; her poetry is incoherent; an eccentric, dreamy, half-educated recluse like her cannot with impunity set at defiance the laws of gravitation and grammar.”

A schoolmaster called Thomas Edison “addled” which means unable to think clearly, confused.

Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was four and didn’t read until he was seven.  Throughout elementary school, many of his teachers thought he was lazy and wouldn’t make anything of himself.  He was expelled from school and not admitted to the Zurich Polytechnic School.

The University of Southern California rejected Steven Spielberg, the man who brought us “Shindler’s List,” “Jaws,” “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park,” three times.

The Kansas City Star fired Walt Disney in 1919 because, his editor said, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

While a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Tony Mazalla found that Anna Wintour’s photo shoots were too edgy and fired her after only nine months.  After being fired, as editor and chief at Vogu Ms. Wintour became one of the most important figures of the fashion world.

Oprah Winfrey was an evening news reporter and was fired because she couldn’t sever her emotions from her stories and she was “unfit for TV.”

Jerry Seinfeld was fired from a minor role on the sitcom Benson.  Apparently, no one told him of his or her low view of his performance.  He found out about it by showing up for a read-through and discovered his part was missing from the script.

After a performance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley was told by the concert hall manager that he was better off returning to Memphis and going back to his former career of driving trucks.

Charles Darwin’s dad called him lazy.  Darwin once wrote, “I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect.”

Isaac Newton was a whiz at math, but he did not excel when it came to other subjects.  His primary school teachers described him as educationally inadequate.  When he was put in charge of running the family farm, he was described as a complete and terrible failure.

Rudyard Kipling was fired from his role as contributor to the San Francisco Examiner in 1889.  He was told by an editor, “I’m sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”

Before her iconic show I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball was considered a failed a B-list actress.  Such a failure, her drama instructors urged her to try another profession.

Several modeling agencies told Marilyn Monroe at the beginning of her career that she should consider becoming a secretary.

Decca Records executive Dick Rowe turned the Beatles down for a record contract.  He believed that “guitar groups were on the way out” and that “they had no future in show business.”

Stephen King received thirty rejection letters for his most renowned and first book, Carrie.

Michael Jordon was cut from his high school basketball team.

Far too often, many of us tend to take rejection as a stop sign, rather than as a step toward success.  There is a Japanese proverb “fall down seven times, stand up eight.”  Yes, rejection is harsh and sometimes it truly is crushing.  The reason to list these people is to show that others have faced rejection but used failure as a learning experience.  The next time you hear rejection, tell yourself, more fake news, and keep moving forward.

Jeremiah, say this to the people of Judah: This is what the Lord says: You know if a man falls down, he gets up again.  And if a man goes the wrong way, he turns around and comes back.  Jeremiah 8:4

Call us with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions; our phone number is 434-808-2637.