To err is human....
George Bernard Shaw said that a life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
I do wonder however if US tattooist Dennis Laroux was able to rise above his epic gaffe after three female members of a chapter of Hell's Angels discovered that he had tattooed Stan's Slaves on their breasts rather than Satan's Slaves, oh dear! I can only guess what happened to the German bank clerk that fell asleep whilst transferring 62.40 euros and ended up transferring 222,222,222,22 euros, oops!
Alexander Pope’s famous poem ‘An essay on Criticism’ “to err is human; to forgive, divine” suggests that it is inherent in all of us humans to make mistakes and that forgiving those that do is a gracious act. On a regular basis I hear disparaging declarations from people when they describe having made a mistake ‘I’m such an idiot, stupid me, what a fool I’ve been’. Maybe we need to forgive ourselves more and reframe our view of mistakes by seeing them as valuable lessons in life with the potential to help us grow and develop.
How we love to find ways of describing our regretful behaviour or calamitous choices; it’s amazing just how many alternative words that are used to describe mistakes, errors, gaffes, clangers, blunders, bloopers, faux pas and countless others.
A few years ago somebody posted a video on YouTube about unhygienic practices at Dominos Pizzas and their CEO, Patrick Doyle, not only apologized profusely he also set about to put it right with customers. His sincerity greatly impressed consumers and now Dominos accounts for half of all American pizza sales.
Everyone makes mistakes the important aspect is how we learn from them; we can’t always put right a wrong doing but we can offer an apology and show that we are prepared to be accountable however uncomfortable that is for us.
By continually making mistakes (10,000 in all) Thomas Edison gained valuable information whilst working on the light bulb and was finally able to achieve success. Next time you switch a light on consider how much you would miss being able to have that instant light whenever you need it.
