by feathers

Created on: May 12, 2008

We fell into water and learned to swim.

Mistakes are a function of learning.

The baby who gets up and then falls over just made a mistake. It made a walking mistake. It learned that if you get up you can fall over. It also learned that falling over did not hurt that much and that it could get up again and have another go because it wants to be able to walk like all the people around it do.

Mistakes are a function of creativity.

These are the best kind of mistakes. These are the kind I wonder about all the time.

Who was it that stuck some seeds under the earth by mistake and found out that it made them grow so that there was plenty for everyone?

Who was it that forgot to put the bread mix into the fire in time by mistake and made that first batch of leavened bread?

Mistakes are part of our essential creative nature and they're part of the fun of life. Of course not all of them are good or positive or rewarding. But they can be. The collapsed cake recycled as a trifle. The awful knitted jumper unpicked and knitted into granny squares.

The thing is, a mistake is not automatically a failure. My own utterly legendary sense of direction (it sucks so badly, people talk about it all the time) has taken me through some pretty scenic routes. Sure, it's a mistake when you take that wrong turning, but suddenly you're looking at the most fabulous view, meeting up with some old friend you haven't seen for years, finding the best little coffee shop you've ever been to.

Accepting our mistakes is part of accepting ourselves as fallible human beings, as delightful explorers of our world, as creatures of fun, not just habit. I can pretty much guarantee that not one of my hand crafted creations is without some sort of mistake: twisted stitches in my knitting, counted cross stitches where I lost count, cakes that are singed or a bit lop-sided, splodges on my art work. No one has ever complained. I always say it just proves that it was made by a human and not a machine.

There's never any need for the awfulness of perfection. Without our mistakes there is never the unexpected. Without the unexpected there is nothing to laugh at. Mistakes are the joy of discovering that if you put the yellow paintbrush into the red paint (oops!) you've suddenly brought orange into your life and it's wonderful.

I am waiting for the day that we fall into the sky and learn to fly.

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