Mistakes, Errors, and Blind Spots

I was appalled by the number of mistakes that I had after posting on Facebook and sending a blog to the people who read it. I applied the same ideas I posted about the two forms of wisdom, one of which is solving problems on your own, so I have done that. I went to the Sophia idea of Aristotle of why I do this and looked for some solutions to my mistakes with phronesis. Recall the first is searching for content. The second is problem solving.

After proof reading for six times, I missed the errors. It turns out that I am not alone. It is human nature. I am always saying learn to fail or fail to learn. It turns out that our brain focuses more on what you meant to say than what you wrote. Our brain focuses on meaning and not technical issues like spelling, grammar, on missing words or words that you just repeat. Because we know the content well, our brain just fills in the gaps.

There is also proofreader fatigue where your brain just gets lazy after you have finished the work that is on the final page.

There are some solutions to this such as reading what you have written out loud. Sometimes it helps to be aware that when you change the order by rearranging of paragraphs or sentences and switch them the result may not be clear.

In essence our brain, as we are proof reading, focuses on the meaning that we are attempting to communicate more so than the details of spelling and other technical matters.

It reminded me that when we go to the eye doctor and take the visual field test, no matter how hard we try, each of us has a blind spot that we are unable to see.

Because of our blind spots when editing something that we have written, we can’t do it on our own. It’s why authors have editors who can be objective. If you read one of my blogs and it is flawless, you should know that my wife, Vicki, has looked at it before sending it out into the world. She is a science-oriented person, but she is gifted in English grammar and, in fact, would teach classes to her high school classmates on that issue. She is a tough editor and often will say, “Just what are you trying to say here?”

Quite frankly I am interested in the reader getting the message over details which works against me in not seeing glaring errors.

I have written three books since retiring from EA plus a blog now nearing the high hundreds in essays.

But if you want to write something for the public, check your ego at the door. The editors of my books were merciless in their comments, but I knew that they had my best interest at heart, so I got used to it.

Winston Churchill was a prolific writer who really captured my feelings and the feelings of other authors who go through the rigorous task of writing for others.

He said, “Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then a master, then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public.”

But all this editing, writing and failing to see our mistakes is a metaphor for our interpersonal relationships as well as what is happening in the Trump Administration. We are not processing Trump and his actions. We say to ourselves how low can he go and we say that repeatedly. Many of Trump’s crimes as President are mistakes that we see the technical stuff of his actions and keep moving on instead of seeing and acting on all his egregious actions which are too many to mention and their destructive meaning for our nation.

Any of his actions would get any other President impeached long ago. We keep reading (watching him do terrible things) and we have done nothing to correct the history that he is making that will be part of the curriculum for future generations. What will they say about us as we let him commit mistakes and errors every day that he is in office? We need an editor which is Congress to create a better and clearer story for future generations.

An editor, Congress, can make our story better although it will be hard for him to process given his narcissistic character. As Churchill said so eloquently, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public after an impeachment to correct his too many to mention mistakes and errors.  ( and we will omit the kill from this quotation so that we are not sued by the Insurer in chief.)

Finally, there is an important message for our interpersonal relationships. Too many people fail to see the mistakes which can be terrible as we relate to one another. A good bit of relationships as friends, neighbors, or life mates in marriage face high level disfunction based on putting up with bad behavior and the mistakes of others.

You and I are writing a story each day of our lives. We need to be the EDITOR who is courageous enough to call out those errors and mistakes of others when there is a pattern of change that is needed. This is also the role of a good therapist. It is called insight!

It is initially hard for writers to get feedback from editors, but if you realize that is done to be helpful to you, the same can be true of the story that we are writing each day of our lives.