"The Mistake"

I have recently observed many Washington political types that when asked " Have you made any mistakes in the policy of (fill in the blank)......?" they simply stare in wonder and amazement at the question and cannot for the life of it think of a thing they would have done differently. I suppose that the human mind works that way. Always going back and rewriting the data so it looks perfectly in order. Perfectly fashioned as the product of such a wonderful being as ourself.

Many of my readers have written asking The Observer what I am looking at in the picture on the right of the front page of the website. Is it something truly profound or what? The picture is of some help in discussing the problem of "mistakes." I will explain.

When we first moved into our home in Evansville in 1990, it was a frenzy of fixing up to get the place in shape. The grass was pretty long so I fired up the lawnmower.
The wife was out doing errands. I soon noticed that the closeline in the back of the house was interfering with the most efficient way of cutting the grass. It came close to taking my head off if I wasn't very careful. It needed to be removed.

So, I went to the barn, got the handy saw and cut it down. Now the grass cutting sure went smoother.

Soon, my wife returned. She was agast. "That was a terrible mistake," she said. The clothesline is so efficient for drying clothes. You will live to regret that," she said.

Now with the energy crisis, it sure would be nice to have that clotheline to save energy. And, each Saturday when I cut the grass, and leave room around that stump that still remains, I am reminded of the mistake. In fact, since my spouse does the trimming around that very stump, she reminds me of it also.

So. There it is. The big mistake. And I get to gaze at it each day out the window to get just a small level of humility that is needed to maintain my writing edge.