Because the Vasa had two gun decks with heavy artillery higher on the ship than ever before, the standard calculations did not apply. When the ship began to heel over, water poured through the open lower gun ports and quickly sank the ship. Modern day Swedish children can see this ancient vessel that was supposed to be the most glorious warship of its day, but instead it became the biggest failure of the day. It was a horribly public failure. But then, many of us can understand because we have known failures that were almost as public as this one.
Failure is a word that strikes fear in the heart of everybody.
Our society has become so success-oriented that we have very little tolerance for failure. We glamorize the Michael Jordan's and the Tiger Woods' of the world, and ridicule misfits and also-rans like you and me. Several years ago I was watching a program on television that filmed several young people placed in a house together for six weeks. One of the girls made the candid remark, I have never failed at anything I have ever tried to do. I think I will never forget her honest confidence as she said it.