You can read J, J, J's full post here, but this is one of the quotes she pulled out for special mention, and what follows in blue is her comment on it:
“…mistakes can bring you where you need to be.”
I’ve made so many mistakes I shudder to think where I could be if they weren’t taking me where I need to be.
Ms Senate's original phrase is graceful, lovely and to the point. It's good writing. But I have to say... J, J, J's negative reversal of the phrase really struck me. Where would I be without my mistakes? It's a weird thought.
We imagine that if we don't make mistakes we'll take the straight and easiest path to our destination, and therefore all mistakes = bad.
Certainly I don't want to imply all mistakes = good. Or that repeating the same mistake over and over again is, well, endlessly useful. Burning my tongue on hot soup once is information. Doing it two or three more times is a lesson in impatience. Doing it another twenty times is stupid.
But those first few times are important. Who would I be if I never burned my tongue on soup? I guess I'd be an exceedingly cautious person? Who has maybe never had a hot bowl of soup in her life because she always waited too long for it to cool down? Or would "no mistakes" mean I would research the perfect soup temperature and use a thermometer? Which means I wouldn't eat soup outside of the house cause who wants to carry around a thermometer all the time? I guess I'd miss out on some life experiences. Which just leads to other kinds of mistakes.
I'm not sure where I'd be without my mistakes. But I'm afraid who I would be is a shadowy version of myself. A kind of ghost maybe. Safe but ...insubstantial?
9 comments:
I reckon if we don't make mistakes (and learn from them) then we've only lived half a life ...
... I would however like the option of going back in time and removing any and all witnesses!
Hmm like Men in Black. Good idea!
Someone brilliant once said that unless you are living life so safely that you might as well not be living at all, you are going to make mistakes. I have learned from all of mine, no doubt about it.
Nice.
I've learned from mine, except for the ones I'm still making. Sadly, there are some I've been making for at least 10 years and still going. That's what marriage is there to show you. Your ability to make endurance mistakes.
Hell, I'm not sure if I've learned from mine or not. Sometimes one just isn't in a position to make the same mistake (in my case, with men or with jobs that chew me up and spit me out).
Sometimes it feels as if I'm making so many so quickly that it's one long stream of mistakes. :)
No no, in your case it's the frikking universe that isn't learning. It's so hard headed!!
Well, then, we must find a way to make it adjust it's behavior.
I love that you got something from my blog. I'm new to blogging and I'm loving it. Now I can put your blog on my list of blogs and it's like one big conversation.
A conversation with people who have things to say that interest me. Very valuable for this Betty who is living out of her element in a rural environment.
"A conversation with people who have things to say that interest me"
It took me years to come across a blog community that I finally felt I really wanted to part of. Love the Betties.
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