I’ve written about Diana Nyad in this blog before. But just in case you didn’t get the news in the midst of all of the other things that are going on in the world, Diana completed the over-100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage yesterday. It was the 64-year-old woman’s fifth attempt. She’s been stung by jelly fish, buffeted by unfavorable winds, exhausted by conditions and had more reasons to give up than the average athlete.

Her persistence is inspirational and then some.

I suppose that it is natural for me to be inspired by someone who is roughly in the same age group as I who is still pursuing really big and challenging dreams. I know of others who have accomplished big things in their 60’s. There are writers and artists who’s first notable creations came from that decade in their lives. There are some qualities that are honed by experience that can pay off when facing extreme challenges.

But experience, in general, is not an especially highly rated commodity in today’s society. Many businesses have discovered that it costs less to replace an experienced worker with one who has less experience. Sometimes youthful enthusiasm and energy can almost make up for a lack of wisdom and experience. Furthermore, there are plenty of workplace skills at which no one has very much experience. The ability to operate the latest high-tech gadgets can’t’ come from years of experience. The devices haven’t been around enough for anyone to have experience. Decades of working with computers don’t mean that the next operating system will be consistent with the systems that have preceded it. And I have observed that even young computer technicians with fresh educations often are not solving computer problems from their knowledge and experience base. More often they try a series of procedures and then start replacing components in a memorized pattern. If all else fails, they simply replace the entire computer. Removing one computer and replacing it with another doesn’t really require a lot of experience.

Despite the lack of appreciation for age, experience and wisdom in the popular culture, people continue to age. Although it may just be a sign of my own age, I believe that there are still many lessons to be learned from our elders.

Physically, it probably isn’t accurate to call Diana Nyad an elder. Her physical conditioning has brought her to peak condition and she as more strength and endurance than many people who are decades younger. I am impressed that she completed the 112-mile swim. I am even more impressed that she didn’t give up after the first attempt, or the second, or the third, or the fourth. In her case it was the fifth attempt that was the charm. It was 35 years between her first attempt and her success. As she stood and walked to shore she proclaimed to well-wishers: “Never give up. Never, ever, ever give up!”

She knows things today that she didn’t know 35 years ago. Among other things, she didn’t know for sure, internally, that she would succeed. There are far too many variables to control in such an audacious attempt. She is an incredibly strong swimmer and she had great capacity for endurance. But the spiritual and mental toughness to endure pain and discomfort and exhaustion were not developed without experiences of frustration and failure.

Others who are more eloquent than I will sing Diana’s praises and write about her accomplishments.

I think she possesses a quality that will be needed by succeeding generations.

Much attention has been given to the term “sustainability” in recent years. It is clear that we have engaged in some practices as individuals and as a society that cannot be sustained over the long haul. Consuming resources at a rate that is beyond our ability to produce can be done for a short time, but cannot be sustained over the long haul. Spending more than our income will last for a little while, but not forever. And I think it is wise for us to consider sustainability and to adopt practices that can be sustained.

Future generations, however, will experience some forms of collapse. Some of the practices of our culture cannot be sustained and even though we will try to persist, we may not be able to give up our destructive ways until we are forced to do so. It is at the point of collapse – on the other side of failure – that sustainability is insufficient. At that point we will need resilience in order to survive. Resilience is the capacity to recover from difficulties and even from failure. It is a quality that will be demanded of future generations.

Systems will fail. Some practices are not sustainable. The way of life that we currently enjoy is not the way of life for all time. Future generations will discover new ways to live and will adapt to the conditions and demands of their time. But those changes will not be accomplished without considerable experiences of pain and loss and even failure.

I hope that the story of Diana Nyad’s swim will be told for many generations. I believe that the story has the power to inspire. I celebrate her success, but I am even more impressed that she didn’t accept failure when the world would not have judged her harshly for giving up. I pray that in the telling of the story, we don’t linger too long on the success. The failures are as critical to the understanding of the story as is the moment of glory she rightly enjoyed yesterday.

Diana Nyad has been using the word “onward” a lot lately. The 2013 Diana Nyad t-shirts have that single word on the back. She isn’t the only 60-something who uses that word. It was also made famous by Howard Schultz, who just celebrated his 60th birthday. It is the title of his book and the way he signs his e-mails. Schultz is best known as the CEO of Starbucks and former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics. It is arguable that his best work wasn’t in the founding of Starbucks or the owning of a sports team, but rather the way he came back and re-invented Starbucks after it started a decline following his first attempt at retirement.

Our world needs resilience. And perhaps it is a contribution that those of us who have a few years experience under our belt can make to those who are just beginning their careers.

I know it is something they will need.

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