Goof
You may not be able to tell by looking at this picture on the internet, but it is all wrong. I saw this interesting looking building from the main road last week in my travels. To get to it I had to drive about a 1/2 mile up a dirt road (my car had just been washed, of course). Sure enough it had a good deal of character. I thought it might make a good subject. When I got home, however, I realized I had a setting wrong on the camera making all the pictures overexposed and too “noisy” or “grainy” looking. I knew better. As I looked back on the shoot, I realized the camera kept trying to tell me something was wrong. I simply goofed.
I remember the first time my parents allowed me to walk home from the neighborhood swimming pool alone. They outlined the exact route I should take in order to avoid walking along the highway. I knew exactly what I was supposed to do, but when it came down to it, I didn’t follow my parent’s instructions. Not because I intended to disobey my parents, but simply because I forgot, or became confused, or simply had a brain freeze. I took the highway route and really thought I was being obedient and my parents would be proud of me. Wrong. Then there was the time in the seventh grade when each student in my class was assigned a different report to research. For some reason, I got my assignment confused and reported on the wrong topic. I goofed. If I thought long and hard, I could come up with hundreds more of these life mistakes.
Admitting mistakes to others has not always come easy for me. Who wants to be perceived as a goof ball? In my older age, however, I’m learning that goofs are part of life. We all make mistakes. Although laughing at myself and my mistakes has come slow, I’m learning. To laugh at myself requires the discipline to step outside myself and see how really ridiculous I look. It means setting aside an unrealistic expectation of perfection and enjoying my faulty humanity. It requires that my self-perception not be dependent upon what others think of me. I admit it. I’m a goof. But in reality, aren’t we all?
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