TRUMP, MISTAKES, ALEXANDER POPE, AND A PODCAST — TO ERR 1
“I WAS WRONG”
Before the 2016 presidential election was decided, catastrophe seemed to strike the Trump campaign. A video surfaced wherein the president to-be had some interesting banter with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush. Trump talked about having sex with a married woman, mentioned grabbing women by their genitals, and revealed a general lack of gentlemanly conduct.
The video quickly inserted itself into the political forum and Trump suddenly had the fire of leaders from both sides of the aisle burning under him. He quickly released a video attempting to mend the damage the video was doing to his campaign.
“I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize,” said Trump in the video. “I’ve never said I’m a perfect person…. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today... are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am.”
The incident quickly rushed to the background of the election and, no more than a month later, Trump was elected president of the United States.
GOOD-NATURE AND GOOD-SENSE
Seeing a leader apologize is like seeing an eclipse: it happens every once in a while and it gets dark. Real dark.
If the powerful have to admit they’re flawed, where can we find someone a little more confident about steering this boat? “I’m sorry. I made a mistake” are never the words you want to hear from the powerful. For many, Trump’s mistake left them jumping ship at most or burying their face in their hands at least.
But then, there’s also something comforting in knowing that even bigwigs make mistakes. Maybe that means we can all get a free pass on holding ourselves to such a high standard.
Right?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But there is one nugget of wisdom we can take away from apologizing presidents and the like: mistakes are an existential constant.
Alexander Pope, renown Renaissance English polymath, said it best in his poem An Essay on Criticism: “To err is human…” Which is, of course, the line that most people remember. But a line before that, there’s a little mandate. Here’s the famous quote in context:
“Good-Nature and Good-Sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive divine.”
And so, an acknowledgement of this universal human insufficiency comes free with the advice to remember that it’s smart and good to forgive people when they mess up.
That is not to say we take Pope out of context when we extract the old “to err” maxim, but there is a deeper principle at work here: we all fail, so we should all at least try to be a little forbearing.
Look no further than the 2017 White House to see that the United States is a practicing forgiver. Or so it seems.
MISTAKES ARE CREATURES
Mistakes are fascinating. They are built out of conflict which always makes for a good story. They reveal truths about who we really are. They bring things to the surface that were otherwise buried. They beat the living daylights out of us and either ruin us or make us better. They give an opportunity to ask and be given forgiveness — a force that is far more powerful than we often acknowledge.
Whether it’s a presidential candidate having to apologize to a nation — admitting that he did not, in essence, have the best words — or a kid on the playground asking forgiveness after a fight, we all screw up.
The fact that nothing is perfect means that everything is imperfect: screw ups will happen. And in the fires of our screw ups come great stories and great lessons.
Those are what I’m here for.
“To Err” is a podcast/blog about mistakes: who makes them, why, what we learn from them, and everything in between.
There will be many mistakes made along the way. I promise to make them (but not intentionally) and, when I do, I promise to acknowledge them (when I can). Most of all, I promise to respect mistakes for what they are: little creatures and massive monsters that invade our lives without warning. Consider me a naturalist in the wilderness of humanity: catching these things, tagging, and releasing them to do whatever they’re still doing.
Because, if there’s one thing that’s true about mistakes, it’s that they lead long and prosperous and interesting lives with an infinite variety of causes and effects.
Like, here’s a question: When will this mistake…
“Grab them by the p — -y. You can do anything.”
…die off?
Probably never.
