How do you usually look at your mistakes?
How do you define mistakes?
After listening to Prof. Pausch, do you still see mistakes in the same way?
I have been a perfectionist. That is, I took every mistake serious and couldn’t bare any error in my life. If I do something wrong, I always appeal to emotion and crazy about making things correct. To me, mistake is like injustice, the most disgusting thing in the world. But this perfectionism was replaced with temporization after I graduated from junior high. In junior high, classmates saw me as an arrogant people because I am not willing to cheat, to be perfunctory and to tease teachers behind their backs like most of my peers. I felt absurd and resorted to my teacher. However, I “upgraded” to be an invisible man in class after my accusation. I gradually lost confidence to myself. I even had no confidence to “check” right and wrong. I am tired, dreadfully tired.
From then on, I changed. I was not sure of what real justice is and this pessimism also influenced my learning. I learn passively. I couldn’t demand myself at all. I felt like a failure from bottom of my heart. I tried hard to erase all the memories in junior high but in vain. Those memories were like a part of my shadow. They would follow me throughout my life.
After listening to Prof. Pausch, the more precise is, after entering college, I change again. I think the biggest mistake in my life is pursuing no mistake since life is too complex to define mistakes. Now, I realize how silly I was to be a perfectionist or a pessimist. As Prof. Pausch said “Brick walls are there for a reason; they prove us how badly we want things. They are there to stop people who don’t want badly.” I really belong to those passive people. But I know those memories in junior high are not only a part of my shadow. They are spurs in my life. It is inappropriate to define mistakes because mistakes may become a gift one day. I think what I should do now is keep walking on winding path of life. And one day, a “correct” answer of life will appear automatically.
As far as I am concerned, mistakes are something that we can learn and improve myself from. It’s the foundation on which we can achieve our goals. Looking back to my life, learning always plays an essential role, through which I obtained knowledge to develop my professional skills, deal with other people, manage my marriage, nurture children, promote my physical and mental health and elevate my soul. However, where there is learning, there are mistakes. If I had been afraid of making mistakes, I would not have grown through learning into a skillful teacher, faithful and happy wife, a loving mother and a physically and mentally sound person. If I had avoided trying for fear of making mistakes, I would have stayed in my comfort zone, going on teaching until my retirement without stepping out to sharpen my teaching skills and knowledge.
回覆刪除Therefore, when I listened to Dr. Pausch’s full-length speech through YouTube, I couldn’t help being fascinated by his enthusiasm, passion, optimism toward life. The moment the speech was finished, I went directly to a book store for his book in Chinese version, and introduced it to my families, students and good friends.
Dr. Pausch initially planned the speech to leave a good model for his children to follow in that he was informed of catching a deadly cancer. However, to his surprise, people around the world got inspired and would like to follow his footsteps—fulfilling their childhood dreams. Dr. Pausch spent his whole life striving to realize his childhood dreams such as becoming a professional football player, being like Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals, being an imaginer and so on. Some of them were carried out while others weren’t. Nevertheless, failure and frustration didn’t stop him from seeking his dreams. As he said, “Brick walls only stop people who don’t want it badly enough.” “When you didn’t get what you wanted,” “experience is what you get.” Dr. Pausch kept on experiencing his life, pursuing his dream until his death. Short as his life is, he spirits and model sure will live on forever.
“Where there is learning, there are mistakes.” I think what you said in your blog is correct. Mistake is like a two-sided knife. We may be defeated by mistake but strengthen by it at the same time. I take mistake as a part of my life long experience. Like playing computer games, we have to knock down different bosses (I mean monsters.) in different stages and get experience points to upgrade. We all know that death is inevitable in the process of upgrade but we are still willing to play the game. Since we know that after we complete these missions, we can get much other than fulfillment. That is, “Live beauteously as flowers in summer, die gracefully as leaves in autumn.” I think Prof. Pausch is excellent demonstration of this Tagore’s poem. I can’t help wondering if I were Prof. Pausch, I will as calm and optimistic as him or not. I think if we live every second as our last second in the world, we will know that we have to treasure every second we have. And even a mistake, is what we have to cherish, too.
回覆刪除DEar Tina,
回覆刪除I love the lines of the poem you shared in the blog. I think it conveys two messages:
1. Life and death are normal and natural just like the cycle of seasons.
2. Death can be as beautiful and romantic as life. Thus, why should we be afraid of death? Why not just enjoy the life until the last munite just as Dr. Pausch?
Faith