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 A new blog to contain answers to prompts |
| Prompt: “I have learned all kinds of things from my many mistakes. The one thing I never learn is to stop making them.” Joe Abercrombie What do you think about mistakes? Can they be useful, sometimes? ------------ I remember, way back when in dinosaur time, those red-penned notes on my exam papers when I was in school, and also, my piano teacher's knocking on my hands (gently) with a ruler. I looked at such things, then, as stains on who I was or as if a ghost or a goblin was out to devour me. Still, I attempted to work on my each mistake, as if it showed me as a total failure. To this day, I don't know if I ever exorcised such ghosts and memories from my psyche. Yet, what if a mistake isn't an absence of perfection, but a presence of something else? What if it is the raw material for a better and stronger self? Or a reworked something that could turn out to be a masterpiece? A mistake can lead to a confession. Something like, "I did not know everything. My work was incomplete." It is painful, yes. But what if it leads to a more careful, deliberate repair? What if it leads to a vow to myself to fix the flaw and to do better? Maybe, any well-traveled, safe path has no mistakes. But what if it is also the path of no discovery? Progress in anything can be messy, chaotic, and full of dead ends and accidents. But possibly, such a work can turn into a success. Just read about how the medical discoveries were made. In any case, a mistake says, "Look, here's something you don't understand." So I, instead of hiding the mistake, can use it as if it is an innovation, or if the mistake was in human relationships, I can try not to repeat it. I may fumble an apology or two, while feeling the sting, but deep down, I always know I am human and I share a language of imperfection with other humans. The true beauty of life is not in its perfection but in my courage to mend the pieces. As such, more than anything, my own mistakes should give me the capacity for empathy. After all, who in this world leads an unblemished life! |
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