Weak Point

There is something I am thinking about that is a real dilemma for me.  It may not be for others.  It could be like “what’s your problem?” for some, but it is not for me.  What I am thinking about is how I really need to be careful not to let someone else’s failure be the justification for my slackness.
I am happy for someone else’s success, but there is almost an audible sigh of relief when they fall.  It can be like the expectation on me is removed when someone else comes a cropper.  I have seen this morning that this sort of thinking is diametrically opposed to what I am fond of saying.  That is, “I am responsible for my actions, but not the actions of another.”
I am happy to glean what I can from the success of another and make the principle a brick in my structure.  Yet when that same person falls short or fails in some way, rather than take a lesson from it and use the lesson learned as a brick in my structure, I gloat over the pile of bricks that is someone else’s life.
I reckon I need to be careful though.  I can so easily think I stand - and fall. 
Working around this place at the moment there are things I have done that initially were really hard.  When I come across something like that, it is my custom to go for the easiest or most vulnerable spot.  Generally, I solve that, and it makes the rest of the job easier.
To me, the same principle applies in war and in my life.  If I am attacking something or someone, I will not go for the strongest point. I will go for the weakest point.  Victory over that opens up the rest.
I think of the boy that held his hand in the dyke leak.  The dyke was an incredibly big strong structure.  Yet it had a weakness that if let go, would have brought the dyke down despite its impressive size and strength.  I may be incredibly strong in some things, but I am only as strong as my weakest point.
On the news at the moment I seem to be seeing a lot of legends brought down.  They have achieved heaps.  They have been held up as examples.  Yet they each had a weak point that was their undoing.  I think of the Ruby Princess as a weak point.
I really do not know that someone’s failure is reason for me to gloat or to give up trying.  I do think though, it is reason for me to be careful.  We have some crockery I treat with extreme care.  I am careful with everything, but this stuff just about causes me to freeze.  Ask Merril.
My weakest point I need to handle with extreme care.  Potentially it is my strongest point in disguise, but potentially and actually are two different things.  My weak point can only be my strong point if I work on it.  I should never kid myself.  Others may fail, but so could I.  I need to work on my own weak points rather than do nothing because of the collapsed structures of lives I may see around me due to them doing nothing about their weak points.
I need help with that one, and thankfully it is available.