Mistake By Ellie Lingner Mistake vt. 1. to understand or perceive

This Week’s Message: Mistake
By Ellie Lingner
Mistake vt. 1. to understand or perceive wrongly: interpret or judge incorrectly
(mistake someone’s motives) 2. to take (someone or something) to be another;
recognize or identify incorrectly (to mistake one twin for the other) vi. to make a
mistake n. 1. a fault in understanding, perception, interpretation, etc. 2. an idea,
answer, act, etc. that is wrong: error.
Because we live in a society that seems to condemn mistakes, we begin to
overestimate them. Early in life, making a mistake becomes a big deal. We try not to
make a mistake at home in order to gain approval. We try not to make a mistake at
school so that our grades will be good. We try not to make a social mistake so we will
be accepted and admired by our peers.
Some of us spend our lifetimes worrying about mistakes and take no actions for fear
of taking the wrong one. What a sad waste!
The real question is…how do we learn in life if not from our mistakes? We certainly
don’t learn from anyone else’s. We see mistakes made all around us and often do the
exact same thing. We don’t necessarily learn from people preaching at us about how
to avoid a mistake. More often than not we turn a deaf ear to that conversation.
There are huge mistakes, mostly in judgment and of commission, for which society
punishes us and we punish ourselves—life altering mistakes like marrying the wrong
person, accepting a bribe or running a red light and causing a fatal crash. We pay for
those mistakes in a really big way and perhaps more importantly—other people are
forced to pay for our mistake.
And there are inconsequential mistakes that mean next to nothing in the scheme of
life. We make a left turn when we should have turned right and either get lost or
must rectify the mistake. We get off an elevator on the wrong floor. We don’t add up
the figures in the checkbook correctly. We can catch it in time or bounce a check, but
life certainly goes on.
Yet we are born making mistakes and we continue until the day we die. No one can
avoid them. The question still remains: what do we do with our mistakes? Do we pay
for them and go on with our lives? Do we let them destroy us? Do we use what we
have learned to turn a mistake into a positive? That, my friend, is the ultimate
decision…your question.
Week’s Quotes:
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make
one.” Elbert Hubbard, The Note Book (1927).
“The man who achieves makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest
mistake of all—doing nothing.” Benjamin Franklin, (1706-1790), American statesman,
scientist, philosopher, printer, writer and inventor.
“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them,
and strong enough to correct them.” John C. Maxwell.
“The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake—you can’t learn anything from
being perfect.” Adam Osborne, (1939-2003), American entrepreneur.
“Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.” Phyllis Theroux.
“Success does not consist in never making mistakes, but in never making the same
one a second time.” George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish literary critic,
playwright and essayist.
“Your mistake does not define who you are…you are your possibilities.” Oprah
Winfrey, (b. 1954), American television personality, actress and producer.
“There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons.” Denis Waitley. (b. 1933), American
motivational speaker and author of self-help books.
“If you own up to your mistakes, you don’t suffer as much. But that’s a tough lesson
to learn.” Lee Iacocca, Talking Straight (1988), with Sonny Kleinfeld.
“Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled
and perhaps remedied.” Pearl S. Buck, What America Means to Me (1943).
“Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.” Cicero,
Philippics (44-43 B.C.).
“Love truth, but pardon error.” Voltaire, Sept Discours en Vers sur L’Homme (1738).
“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but
saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.” Jonathan
Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711).