Mistakes
I've written before about mistakes, about how hard it is to identify them, how hard it is to correct them once identified. A favorite columnist, Marilyn vos Savant, recently reminded me of another aspect of mistakes. She points out that in order to learn, we must explore new territory and that with new territory come mistakes. She reminds us that mistakes come with learning and that those who do not make mistakes have probably stopped learning.
Most of us want to learn and most of us hope we won't make mistakes, at least not serious mistakes, or, if we do make mistakes, that we won't make too many. Mistakes can be devastating and difficult to correct. Some mistakes can be fatal to our goals. But most of the time, if we recognize (or admit) our mistakes, there is a way to correct them. And even those mistakes that can't be corrected can be minimized. At least we can usually find a way to go on despite our mistakes.
Also, most of us understand that we learn more from mistakes and failures than from smooth sailing to successes. I've heard. professional analysts say that character comes from mistakes, that we can trust people who have overcome mistakes more than people who have avoided them. With people who have avoided mistakes, we don't know how they will behave when the (almost) inevitable mistake comes.
But how many of us have thought about Ms. vos Savant's point of view: It may be essential to make mistakes if we want to learn. How many of us believe that we can stop mistakes only by stopping learning, that, perhaps, mistakes should be welcomed as evidence that we are actively engaged in the learning process. Ms. vos Savant reminds us that learning is life-long, that we need to keep learning as much and for as long as we can, and that mistakes are a sign that we're making progress. The only way to avoid mistakes is to remain completely passive, avoid all activity and remain cloistered in our homes. And even then we'll probably make some mistakes but without the benefits that activity can bring us.
Let's keep learning. Let's recognize our mistakes and try to correct them. But most importantly, let's be happy in the signs that we're still learning, that we're actively pursuing a goal and that the mistakes we make will often teach us something that will ease the next steps in our lives.
8-8-05
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