Fault?

"They say the best men are molded out of faults, and, for the most, became much more the better for being a little bad."

We're not all perfect; we're not all angels. And that's okay.
Even Shakespeare said that it was okay - and he knows what's up.

Yesterday at lunch, my usual lunch crew was sitting around a table. During a brief lull in the conversation, my friend turned to me and said, "So, Ali, what embarrassing things happened to you already this morning?" We all laughed, as I am notorious for my embarrassing stories. As soon as everyone stopped laughing she looked at me and said, "No really, I'm serious."

I embarrass myself often, and she had every right to suspect that by 12:30 lunch, I already had three embarrassing stories to tell for the day. And the more I think about it, the more I like to think of myself as charming as opposed to embarrassing. I mean, it may not be entirely true, but it gets me through the day. Everyone embarrasses themselves, but I just kind of blow off embarrassing situations. It takes a lot to actual kill my ego from embarrassment. Not that my ego is big, I just know that I'm human. Jason Mraz fell off the stage yesterday. He ripped his pants in front of the crowd. He wrote a hysterical blog entry about it. His attitude about it was to just smile and wave. He knew that it wasn't a huge deal. He knows that he's human.

We all make mistakes. We all have some sort of regret. We all have things sometimes we look back on thinking "Oh, dear, I wish that never happened." But do we really wish that never happened? After all, we're better people for having been a little bad. Yeah, there's sin, pain, heartbreak, mistake, imperfection, or whatever other words you can think of, but there are also lessons. There is also forgiveness. And I find that by embracing mistakes, imperfections, sins, and heartbreak, I am happier. I mean we all change and grow. If you only have wonderful experiences, do we really ever learn? Can you name anyone in your life that only has good experiences, who only ever does good? It's not human nature. And for the millionth time, I will remind you all: We are all just human.

Is it easier to ask for forgiveness than permission? I think so. I'm not encouraging everyone to go out and commit felonies, but I am encouraging self-forgiveness. If you mess up, go easy on yourselves. Allow yourselves to live and embrace being human.