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All of us make mistakes, big ones and small ones. They cause a lot of worry, pain and unhappiness but what we tend to overlook is that they have their uses and the biggest mistake of all is to ignore the fact they are the means by which one becomes a better person. It has been truly said that your mistakes do not define your character.
It is what you choose to do after, that makes all the difference. When the great Thomas Edison was working on the alkaline battery, a newspaper reporter asked, ‘Mr. Edison, you have failed 10,000 times. When are you going to quit?’ Edison replied, ‘I haven’t failed 10,000 times. I know 10,000 things that don’t work. Something will work and I will find it’. And find it, he did!
This is not to say that we make mistakes on purpose or do not try to avoid them. Nor does it condone or encourage others to make mistakes. That would be nothing short of ridiculous! It is to emphasize though that making allowances in our thinking and behaviour is possible.
They can impel us to change direction and grow and evolve as human beings.
No doubt a mistake can make one feel inadequate and ineffectual. There could be attempts to hide it, to lie about it or deny it. But the fact remains and festers until one faces it squarely. Then healing takes place and it is both soothing and enlightening. It allows one to rectify the mistake or learn from it. It helps to kindle humility and compassion.
What about the big mistakes that we sometimes make or confront? I remember watching a movie entitled, ‘The Mass’. Here two sets of parents, one belonging to the victim of a school shooting and the other, the parents of the perpetrator. They come together after resolving to take to the path of peace. After many rounds of hectic arguments, they succeed in their mission. The movie ends with a healing hymn and both pairs of parents leave the scene lighter in heart and spirit.
There is no doubt about it; mistakes do take place but they need not be treated as stumbling blocks. They can be turned instead into stepping stones to success!