Personal Mistakes

essaysbysean.blogspot.com

Somewhere, in a parallel universe, there is another Sean Crawford. Like me, he knows his Y-axis from his X-axis. Unlike me, he sees “his” graph as charting a line straight across. Abilities and talents, skills and competencies: In his eyes, these are all on a flat line, for him and others. Ain’t that a pity?

From what I know of human nature, most of us aren’t exactly ego-less humble sages. It seems most likely Sean would rather not have a crystal clear vision of his limitations. Surely he’d prefer to keep a blurred sunny point of view that maybe, just maybe, he’s a little better than what he appears to be, to himself, on those clear bitter-cold days. This leads to a scary plight: With every mistake, surely, he must see more and more clearly where his line is. A pity.

Meanwhile, here in God’s own universe, my own graph line goes ever upwards. For competencies, abilities, and even everyday life skills, I have nowhere to go but up. Ain’t that nice?

Surely, as I go running up that hill, I can leave all my mistakes in the dust at my heels… In fact, I no longer have any mistakes… but I sure have a lot of “learning experiences.”

On cloudy days, if I retain my sense of humor, I can say, “Drat! I keep feeling my AGE.”

(“What?”)

“I keep having Another Growth Experience!”

How nice.

Sean Crawford

AGEing gracefully,

February, 2012