I reblog this every time I see it, because it’s one of life’s hardest lessons.
“Do or do not, there is no try” is the worst damn advice I was ever been given as a child. Fuck telling kids that their mistakes are the result of deliberate choice; let them know that they can fail for reasons totally beyond their control, and let them know that it’s just important that they earnestly try.
I can’t believe Captain Picard learned everything he knows from Beyoncé.
Always reblog Picard and Beyoncé
Do or do not, there is no try doesn’t mean your mistakes are the result of your own choices. It doesn’t mean you can’t fail and learn from those mistakes to do better next time.
Yoda was trying to tell Luke that The Force was already a part of him, he could still make mistakes and he had to practice to get better at controlling his abilities, but the power was always there waiting to be harnessed. It wasn’t intended as a life lesson for the audience, and definitely wasn’t meant to be used to tell kids if they fail once they’ll never be able to do it.
Luke was pushing too hard, but he didn’t believe in what he was doing. Yoda wanted Luke to get back to the mindset he was in when he destroyed the Death Star. He wasn’t overthinking all the variables and absolutely believed in The Force and what he could do. But just because he could focus and fire exactly where he needed to doesn’t mean it still couldn’t have gone wrong. There could have been a grate over the vent, or a shield that deflected the shot. Even though he did everything right it still could have gone wrong through no fault of his own.
Yoda wasn’t trying to teach Luke that if he did his best he would always succeed, just to believe in himself and his abilities. Whether it works out the way he wants after that or not is beyond Luke’s control.
Yoda was essentially saying “Come on, you can do it. You’ve got this!” Not “Do it now or you’re a failure forever”