Monday, January 1, 2018

A New Page

A post on social media reminded me of what my favourite teacher, Fr Gatti taught me. He asked us to strike out an error (while writing) instead of trying to erase it or blank it out. He would say crossing out the mistake meant that one was accepting the mistake, taking ownership for it and moving on.

Though, he was my teacher in school for only one year, I kept in touch with him till he passed away. Every interaction was an enduring lesson. One day, when I asked him what if the page was full of errors, Fr Gatti promptly declared, ‘Then take a new page… start afresh without the burden of mistakes!’


So often, so many of us struggle with accepting our mistake… and if we accept, we have inhibitions in owning up to our mistake… and if we own up, we are weighed down by the burden… we remain stuck on the same page. We must start a new page!

A new page is about fresh initiative... it is about moving beyond mistakes after accepting and owning up to them. When we own up to our mistakes, it is easier to learn from our faults instead of being discouraged. Starting a new page will take away our focus from past mistakes to newer efforts.

Interestingly, faults are not just noticeable errors in the results. They may be unnoticed errors in our efforts. Starting a new page ensures that we involve in fresh efforts which may be distinctly different from the earlier ones. New initiatives will bring along newer results!

In results or efforts, so that errors do not stay
Let’s start a new page… let’s walk a new way!


~ Pravin Sabnis

No comments: