In our busy world it’s easy to find ourselves being overwhelmed with everything that we need to get done. Thankfully the long weekend gave my wife and I the opportunity to get caught up on quite a few things. Though it’s only summer we decided to head over to the local travel agent to organize our winter plans (you can never be too early). As the shop was quite busy I decided to take a look around and check out all the fabulous hotels that exist all over the world. On one wall I noticed a picture of Ayers Rock which does look quite magnificent and one place that I would like to visit one day. However one thing stood out to me…those observant people may have already noticed it. It says, “Ayers Robk in Australia.”
So why do I bring this up? Because even the best of us make mistakes. Sometimes people think that as an English teacher I always use perfect English or grammar. I wish I could say that were true but that would be a lie. I am a native speaker, I try hard to speak and write correctly but there are times when I just can’t get the right words out of my mouth or I simply have forgotten a word. A few months ago in one of my earlier postings I mentioned attending “Burn the Floor.” After the event I came out and saw someone with a video camera and I wondered if he had been hired to capture people’s comments after the show to show on future commercials. As I was already excited I waved at them and suddenly I found myself right in front of the camera being asked what I thought of the event. I wanted to say it was unbelievable but then thought that indescribable would be better but in the excitement I found myself saying undescribable which is one word that my mother had told me time and time again was incorrect…but the damage had been done, I’d said it. All I could do was laugh about it.
There are those people that think they have all the answers…but no one does. For me, life is about being better than I was yesterday. I am reminded of the words of Michael Jordan in one of his commercials back in the early 1990s. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” The great thing about success is that people overlook the failures along the way.
I am constantly telling my students at Smith’s 英会話 Hirakata not to worry about making a mistake; mistakes allow me to help them. The secret to speaking that most people forget to mention is speaking itself which is why we devote as much time in our classes to conversation.
Adrian
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