Do you know what tea bags, Ivory soap, Popsicles, seeing eye dogs, Frisbees, Toll House cookies, and Brown 'n Serve rolls have in common? They were all made or discovered by mistake! I read the stories behind these and other inventions made by mistake in a book called "Mistakes that Worked" by Charlotte Foltz Jones.
This book got me thinking about making mistakes, and how scary making a mistake has become these days. We live in a society that is so fearful now, not just of terrorists, but of accidents, sickness, conflict, and of standing out in a crowd, taking an unpopular stand, or having eclectic taste in art or music. We are afraid of talking to each other, afraid of letting our children play outside, afraid that a "C" in third grade will prevent our son or daughter from getting into Harvard Medical School, afraid of saying "um" or "ah" in a toastmasters speech.
It's hard not to buy into this climate of craving protection and wanting to shield ourselves and our families from "negative things". When we do take a chance, and it turns out badly - we have made a mistake, and it might make us look bad, embarrass us, cost us a little money or time. Making a mistake might change another's opinion about us, it might make us seem different from other people, we could even get hurt!
My message to you tonight is make mistakes! Without mistakes, without taking a risk or trying something new, we will never learn or grow. When my son was three years old he wanted to learn how to ride a bike, so we bought him one of those little tikes bikes with training wheels. He was so very excited to try it out, and so we took him outside, put his helmet on his head, and sent him off down the sidewalk. My husband and I stood clutching each other while he pedaled down the concrete and promptly tipped over and skinned his knee. We knew it was going to happen, we wanted to prevent the hurt, but we let him make his own mistake so he could learn to ride that bike. It was one of the hardest things we ever did up to that point, but it taught us to let go, and allow our son to make mistakes. We would be there to catch him when he fell, but fall he must, so he could learn to pick himself up and try again. How many of you learned to ride a bike without a scrape or two?
Make mistakes! Take chances, fall and skin your knee. William E. Gladstone once said, "No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes." I am not talking about not wearing a seat belt while driving, or throwing a kid in a swimming pool to teach him how to swim. I am talking about taking a hard course in school and not getting an "A", trying your hand at painting or playing an instrument, starting a difficult conversation with your child, giving that hip pocket speech, or being toastmaster of the evening.
Make mistakes! I do all the time. I have made and served rock hard fudge, burned spaghetti sauce, and jambalaya that was too hot for even a native Cajun to eat. I have tried and failed to water ski, roller blade, and disco dance. From my mistakes, I have learned that mixing beer and peppermint schnapps will make you throw up (although this is how I met my future husband). Leaving your honeymoon suitcase at the reception is not the end of the world, even though you have to wear the same panty hose the next day. Always bring 2 extra diapers with you on an airplane (no one will sit next to you if you need that second one and don't have it though). Putting white rugs in the same load with blue jeans will dye the rugs blue and leave rug lint all over your jeans (the rugs did look better blue). I still haven't invented anything yet, but I am hopeful that someday I will come up with the next Toll House Cookie. Until then, I will continue to make mistakes, and I urge you to do the same.