Scene From A Movie: "Before The Sunrise"

A man and a woman are standing on a sidewalk on a dark street in Vienna, outside of a club. It is very late, after midnight. The two are strangers, having met while traveling, and now both of them are just killing time before they have to go their separate ways, which will happen in 14 hours. They have talked about nearly everything external to themselves during their explorations of the city--life, philosophy, whatever else strangers talk about when they are becoming friends. Now at last they are beginning to go deeper, to talk about something a little more...dangerous. They begin to talk about love.

The man says he doesn't think his problem is commitment. He says he is not afraid of that. No, what he is afraid of is failing. He wants to be really good at something, to do well in his life. He thinks that maybe, if he gets tangled up with another human being, somehow everything will be ruined. His life will be forever marked by his failure.

The girl is quiet as he speaks. She watches him with a Mona Lisa smile on her face, and when he finishes his speech, she gently says, "I know. It is almost impossible to succeed really...but who cares?" She looks away and adds, almost to herself, "The answer must lie in the attempt."

In the end, perhaps the only failure is...not trying.