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?
