Wisdom

"A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying that he is wiser today than he was yesterday." Alexander Pope

If we are living and learning and growing, it's a given that we are going to change our minds about some things and our opinions about some others. I respect people who can admit when they are wrong. It says a lot about your character when you can do that.

When my kids were in elementary school, one of the neighborhood moms became upset with her son for something and grounded him. Then she cooled down a bit and thought about it. She concluded that she had been having a bad day and overreacted to what he had done, and the consequence was unwarranted. She went to him and apologized for being so harsh with him and told him he was not grounded. She told him she had made a mistake and wanted to make it right. Wow. I think some parents who had second thoughts would tell the children the punishment was over, but wouldn't admit they had been wrong and wouldn't have said they were sorry. I really admired this woman for the way she handled it. I imagine her son already knew he was being treated unfairly, and she sent a powerful message when she admitted it.

None of us is perfect, and the longer we live the more we see that there is much to learn. It is the truly wise person who can see where they went wrong and do something about it.

Susan