To Err Is Human

(I was flipping through my old files when I came across some pages on good human relations. I thought it’s a good thing to post it. Author is unknown.)

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We all make mistakes. That’s why they put erasers on pencils – even the president’s pencil. But it’s the hardest thing in the world for most of us to admit we’ve pulled a boner. When anything goes wrong, we automatically try to duck the responsibility. We’ll spend hours trying to prove we were right. We can think of a million excuses. And we make others spend hours trying to convince us we were wrong.

Most of us have a queer idea that it’s shameful ever to make an error. That’s why when the finger points at us, we try to get out from under. The funny thing is that people really respect a man who admits his error quickly. It’s the mark of a big man. The fellow who can’t admit a mistake gets known as pigheaded. The word gets around quickly.

We can’t be right all the time. The man who is right in only 60% of the time can be a howling success if he’s quick to correct his mistakes. To err is human; not to admit it is a damn foolishness.