Mistake Making

Here’s the thing about mistakes – You can usually undo them! I believe it’s something to think about today in the United States, when you have the right to cast your vote. Let’s start correcting some of this mess in which we find ourselves! Go Vote!

While this blog isn’t about voting, and although I hope anyone living in the U.S. votes today, it is about making mistakes.

Yesterday, I was transferring some of my blog posts from WordPress to a Word Document to use for another purpose. I noted small mistakes I had made in grammar  and corrected them as I completed the copy and paste. None of them were grievous mistakes, most of which being caused by my style of conversational writing. I seem to like the word “really.” And, I now know I “really” must stop using it.

But, about ten posts in, dating back to the summer of 2017, July 4th to be exact, I noted in my post, “Twenty Years of Student Advocacy, and Ten Things I’ve Learned” that I had made a larger error! Although I said I had “ten things” I learned, there were only nine listed. My enumeration ended with ten but I had gone from number 3 to 5, skipping a thought for number 4!

Wow! For almost a year and a half this post sat online and was not complete, but hosted an error or a mistake! It is one of my better posts, in my opinion – offering solid advice to those who desire to dip their toes into the icy and dicey waters of student advocacy. So, I was dismayed when I found what I had done. But, on the flip side, I was also heartened by the fact that I know friends, family, and even strangers comments on this piece but none called me out on my error. I had hope that, maybe, it wasn’t even noticed.

I fixed it. Last night, I renumbered the post’s thoughts and added the final, tenth item that I’ve learned from being a student advocate. It is this:

10.You will make mistakes. This is a fact. Acknowledge those mistakes and move on!

Whether a student advocate or not, number ten should give us all pause. We are all human. We all make mistakes. The important thing is that we acknowledge them, and move forward. It can be applied to everything in life – even politics! Now, go vote!