The true art of making a mistake is the essence of being human. Rocks and minerals do not make mistakes, neither do plants, nor does your computer in spite of a long list of infractions, they are not true mistakes. Mistakes are made by humans. Even animals don't make them. Animals may make a bad choice, like to run in front of a car, but it can't really be called a mistake. And according to Dictionary.com, here's why.
mis⋅take [mi-steyk]
–noun 1. an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
2. a misunderstanding or misconception.
Poor reasoning is indicative that you have reasoning skills to start. Which you could argue that I can't even pick on half of New Port Richey, because I am not sure they actually have reasoning skills, which would make them exempt from making mistakes. You have to be a higher level life form to be able to reason and then to make an error based on your judgement.
So why do I bring this up you ask...because as parents we make many mistakes. Also as a human parents we have regret and guilt. We also promise ourselves we won't make the same mistake again, and then we do it and become angry with ourselves. But lets think of the alternative, if we were the perfect human parent, never making a mistake- we wouldn't be human. And smaller humans need to be loved by bigger humans...mistakes and all.
Great article except that I find your comment about the intellect of New Port Richey residents offensive and judgmental. I am educated enough to make the decision to not carry the offense, however the adoptive community that you and I both serve will glean less from your teaching when presented with this attitude. Just some constructive criticism . I hope you take it that way.
ReplyDeleteI did say half of New Port Richey. Not all. (Which is probably true of most cities).
ReplyDeleteOf course there are some amazing families in the New Port Richey area! Of course they don't make for as amusing text as the other half. And one does not need therapeutic sarcasm in dealing with them.
And.... I'll be focusing on the latter part of the post when I say....
ReplyDeleteI beat myself up all the time on the mistakes I make. In fact, today, I have been beaming that I felt like it was a good parenting day. I didn't find a flaw in the amount of play time they got, socialization, outside time, painting, etc. I went with the spur of the moment, didn't get distracted with "adult" activities or the strong desire to be an adult without kid activities; I didn't say anything too harshly, didn't let too much go. I finally had a "good" day. Now, tomorrow will be another story. There will be tons of mistakes made there!
Oh good Mia!! If you make mistakes then I am sure you are human. How lucky our children are to be raised by imperfect loving humans and not the Stepfords!
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