A young boy was sitting in the back seat of the car eating an apple. He poked his father in the front seat and asked, "Daddy, why does my apple turn brown?" His father answered, "When the skin is removed from the apple, air reaches the flesh of the apple and causes oxidation. This changes the apple’s molecular structure and results in a brownish color.
After a long pause, a small voice from the back seat asked, "Daddy, are you talking to me?"
I know how that boy feels. Sometimes I want answers to some of those confusing problems we all run up against. I want someone to explain how to get through difficult times or tell me what to do in a tough situation. I just want to get it right.
But I think I identify a bit more with the father whose daughter asked him if he would help her with some homework.
"I’m sorry," he replied. "It wouldn’t be right."
"Well," she said, "at least you could try."
Problem is, I don't always have the answers I need. And nobody else seems too, either. So I blunder ahead worried that I'll never get it "right."
But I'm beginning to learn something about not knowing what to do and making a poor choice. That is -- I don’t HAVE TO always get it right. I don’t have to always know what to do all the time. All I really need to do is try my best, learn from the mistakes and go on.
The affable Dr. Leo Buscaglia once said, "No one gets out of this world alive, so the time to live, learn, care, share, celebrate, and love is now." Which is pretty hard to do when you’re waiting for the answers first.
So you got it wrong. You made a mistake. So what? Forgive yourself and try again. Even if you don’t get out of this world alive, you can get plenty of life out of this world if you're not too worried about always getting it right.
-- Steve Goodier
Image: freeimages.com/Fran Gambín
