Do you know what my
favorite key is on my computer? It's the DELETE key. All kinds of problems go
away when I press DELETE. I use it all the time. Junk e-mail? DELETE.
Misspellings? DELETE. Unwieldy sentences and confusing paragraphs? DELETE.
DELETE. I sometimes wish my life had a DELETE key. One click on the key and I
wipe out a mistake. Maybe another click and I could start the day all over
again.
And being one who blunders in grand fashion, I have empathy for others who wish
they could go back and start over. Like the couple that phoned a neighbor to
extend birthday greetings. As the phone was answered they belted out the song
"Happy Birthday." But when they finished their off-key
rendition, they were informed that they had dialed the wrong number. After
listening to their embarrassed apologies, the recipient said, "Don't let
it bother you. You folks need all the practice you can get."
According to Tara Kelly Walworth (Reader's Digest), she and her new
husband had an afternoon they may have wanted to take back. They arrived
exhausted at their honeymoon destination in Daytona Beach, Florida (USA) and
decided to refresh themselves in the motel pool. She figured she'd lost a few
pounds leading up to the wedding when she discovered her skimpy, new bikini fit
too loosely. Every time she dived into the pool she seemed to lose either the
top or bottom. But since they had the pool to themselves, they just laughed and
retrieved the pieces.
They later dressed for dinner and decided to eat in the motel restaurant.
Waiting for a table in the lounge, they noticed a huge, empty, glistening fish
tank above the bar. "Why is such a beautiful fish tank empty?" her
husband asked the bartender.
The man grinned broadly and said, "That's not a fish tank. It's the
swimming pool."
I think it was New York City Mayor Fiorello Laguardia who once said, “I rarely
make a mistake. But when I do, it's a beaut!”
Have you ever wanted to take back an embarrassing moment? Or more importantly,
how often have you regretted a hasty decision that ended with disastrous
consequences? Or an unfair and angry outburst that caused unnecessary
hurt? Some of my worst mistakes were not the embarrassing moments (later on
they make the best stories), but pain I caused other people and poor decisions
that did damage I could never repair.
The problem is, some mistakes really can't be corrected. Some hurts just can't
be undone. As they say, it's like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube.
Sometimes the best we can do is to make amends. And no DELETE key can erase the
past so we can do it over – do it better.
The past is what it is – past. And that, too, is good to remember. It is past.
Over. Finished. There is no taking it back, yet no purpose is served in
reliving and rehashing old memories. It is gone. My best self says to me, “Let
it be a teacher.” So I try to learn from its harsh lessons as well as its joys.
Then (and this is important), my best self adds, “Now just leave it. Leave it
where it belongs – in the past.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way: “Finish each day and be done with it. You
have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in;
forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.”
Yes, tomorrow is a new day. Full of hope and promise and new beginnings. And
that is something I might forget if life had a DELETE key.
-- Steve Goodier (Life Support System)
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