‘Fessing our faults is freeing. Fear of not being perfect holds us back.
I once made a terrific blunder while working at The Southampton Press. I wrote that a proposed school budget was $14,000,000 when it was only $12,000,000 (or something like that, details have been blurred in my brain). I was so mad at myself. But did you ever read the Corrections Page of The New York Times? There are always corrections. We are only as perfect as our last mistake.
This blog was inspired by the honesty of Carla King who runs a Self-publishing boot camp work camp and has published books on self-publishing. She reminds authors to proof-read, proof-read, proof-read and had a typo in her newsletter and had to send an Oops! follow-up email.
Every Friday night, when my family sits down to a big meal, we go around the table and each of us shares our Happiness of the Week and also our Embarrassing Moment of the Week. This tradition is great because we can turn our mistakes into funny anecdotes.
Japanese artists always make one intended mistake in their paintings. Because:
A perfect universe contains imperfections.
DIANA BLETTER 
Excellent! When we’re all around the dinner table with the grandkids, the usual question is “What’s your favorite thing that happened today?” We’ve heard amazing answers, some in a few words or a single sentence, but others in that go on and on and on. Now we’ll consider asking two short questions of everyone, including the “What was your embarrassing moment?” or “If you could have a do over, what would it be?”
“We’re Only As Perfect As Our Last Mistake” should be on a needle-point pillow, or at least a bumper sticker.
Hi Diana, thanks for this post. You know what’s interesting? My “Oops!” email generated a lot of personal responses from people who said “That’s Okay! We Still Love You!” which is a reminder that being human is better than being perfect. I’ve always felt that the personal is universal, and whenever I write from the heart, or make a mistake, I see that it’s true. Best, Carla
Hi Carla,
Your honesty about your Oops opened the door for others. And you did it with good humor and humility. Thanks for being a pioneer (again!).
Diana
And that is exactly the point! According to Jewish sources, G-d intentionally created the world in an unfinished/imperfect state, and gave Man the privilege of becoming a “partner” in fixing and perfecting it. 🙂
Thank you, Yosi, that is a perfect point! I hope Man includes Woman, too, right? We each can do our share in tikkun olam, repairing the world.
Of course! As you might already know, the “beta version” of “Man” indeed included “Woman” — quite literally, in fact! 😉
The apparent “separation” introduced into the “production version”, did not change the fact that both sexes are (still) privileged with being partners in the process of Creation.
In fact, there might even be room to say that Woman’s initial role was bigger than Man’s. I recommend the following video of Rabbi Manis Friedman (for something totally different — not what they normally teach in “Hebrew School”):
Of course! As you might already know, the “beta version” of “Man” indeed included “Woman” — quite literally, in fact! 😉
The apparent “separation” introduced into the “production version”, did not change the fact that both sexes are (still) privileged with being partners in the process of Creation.
In fact, there might even be room to say that Woman’s initial role was bigger than Man’s. I recommend the following video of Rabbi Manis Friedman (for something totally different — not what they normally teach in “Hebrew School”):
Hi Yosi, Thank you for your comments! Yes, we all have to do our share to repair the world!