If the lyrics "raindrops on roses" and "the hills are alive…" run trippingly off the tongue, you are familiar, perhaps overly familiar, with the musical "The Sound of Music." First performed on Broadway in 1959 it plays on stages all around the world in an array of languages to an estimated 600,000 theatre patrons each year. The story was immortalized on screen with the 1965 release of the movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer which went on to win five Academy Awards and years later become a broadcast staple.
            I have watched the movie more times than is wise and have seen many different theatre companies stage the show. One of my favorites was in Vancouver--a Theatre Under the Stars production in Stanley Park. As the actress playing Maria Von Trapp was about to teach her young charges to sing, she reached into her guitar case only to discover the guitar wasn't there. The audience, familiar with the story and fully aware of the prop oversight, laughed along as the actress ad libbed her way through the moment and carried on with the scene.
           Mistakes can, and do, happen to performers all the time. A cape that was tied too tightly around Madonna's neck caused her to fall during a performance at an awards show. Beyonce suffered the same fate a few years back when she tripped on her coat and fell down a dozen stairs. YouTube is filled with clips of celebrity performers taking tumbles, forgetting lyrics or getting hung up on their costumes. In all these instances the performers did exactly what they are taught to do--carry on as if nothing is amiss. It works great as a philosophy for the stage but not one that is necessarily well-suited to life.
           Mistakes are part of the reality of maneuvering through each day. There exists the possibility that something will go awry and we will find ourselves managing the consequences to a greater or lesser extent. But dealing with those very consequences is what matters most.
           We shouldn't see ourselves as performers in this life--performers who pretend that mistakes don't matter and simply carry on with the show. We need to be upfront and accountable and treat mistakes not as something to be ignored and covered over, but as opportunities for things to be explored and laid bare. Therein lies the gold since therein lies the value.
           In acknowledging our mistakes we learn a great deal. We learn to admit we are fallible. We learn to find a different way of doing something. We learn to look at the details with a different eye. We learn to take a step back. We learn to embrace a new perspective. We learn the skill of starting over. That's a lot that can come from something we wish had never happened.
           But if it hadn't happened we wouldn't then be able to tuck away and call upon all the lessons that we need to embrace tomorrow. If it hadn't happened we wouldn't have the experience necessary to help ourselves or others navigate the next situation. But the most crucial thing our errors teach us is that there is freedom in acknowledging and recognizing we are not perfect--nor should we strive to be. Thinking mistakes need to be ignored is to live in ignorance of all that can be gleaned from admitting there is still more to understand…more to experience…more to be taught. Everything we can learn makes the mistakes tremendously valuable.
           It doesn't make sense to pretend we didn't spill cereal, or call a wrong number or miss a deadline or forget a meeting. Nothing is gained by attempting to ignore the errors. Rather, we need to sweep, apologize, focus, prioritize or do whatever else might be needed to clean up and move forward.
           Mistakes can be mercifully private or spectacularly public but that's not how they should be measured. It's not the mistake or its venue that matters but recognizing that it puts us in a fine class--right alongside every other person we share this journey with. When we commit to learning the lessons being offered and to reach out in graciousness to others with the same forgiveness we need ourselves, our mistakes won't be a stumbling block but rather a jumping off point. That's my outlook.
