Fail 'till you win. . .

I think that's the underlying message of this meme citing some of the low moments in the long and checkered life of Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Sanders.

As a late bloomer, I absolutely love stories of people who didn't "make it" until years of trying. As a writer, my favorite among these is the tale of British crime novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler.

Mr. Chandler is responsible for novels starring his hard-boiled protagonist Phillip Marlowe like "The Big Sleep," which was later turned into a film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

He also co-wrote, with Billy Wilder, the script for "Double Indemnity," a 1944 film that is considered a masterpiece of noir film.

The moral of that film, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and  Edward G. Robinson, seems to be never trust a woman who wears dark sunglasses indoors.

Chandler hit his own personal nadir, or one of them, when he was a young man. Wikipedia—a source that they say isn't to be trusted but which I consult daily—describes the time before he began trying his hand at writing:

"Having begun in 1922 as a bookkeeper and auditor, Chandler was by 1931 a highly-paid vice president of the Dabney Oil Syndicate, but his alcoholism, absenteeism, promiscuity with female employees and threatened suicides all contributed to his dismissal a year later."

I'm guessing he didn't get a good letter of recommendation from his boss the D.O.S.

But anyhow, he began scribbling stories at age 44 after getting canned. He was 51 when he published his first novel. I'm 41 and, doing the math, it all sounds so possible.

So yeah, I love hearing about people who take years to get there but have vowed to, as Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers sings in "Scar Tissue" of the Californication album, "make it to the moon if they have to crawl."

One more thought in what is becoming a stream-of-consciousness  blog post. Going back to Colonel Sanders. Not only has he provided countless Americans with instant fried gratification. He has become a Santa-like figure in Japan.

Yes, Chinese people have a tradition of getting a big bucket of KFC every Christmas. It all stems from a very successful holiday ad campaign, back in 1974, that urged consumers to indulge in "Kurisumasu ni wa kentakki!" or "Kentucky for Christmas."


I'd call becoming a holiday tradition for 127.3 million people winning. Particularly when you factor in the fact that only one percent of Japanese people are Christian.

So let's all collectively fail until we win.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo gallery of Christmas joy, KFC-style.