Sorry seems to be the hardest word…- 12 October 2009

Proverbs 12:1 ..he who hates correction is stupid

Proverbs 13:18 ..whoever heeds correction is honoured

I think of myself as quite a practical guy, essential really in a caretaker.  I quite enjoy putting things together so was looking forward to assembling the bike racks at school during the summer break.  At last the time came when I could take up the challenge and cross another job off my list; should be very routine, I thought.  I unpacked all the components big and small and cross-checked against the list – all present and correct – things were looking up!  Next I read the instructions – some blokes do – and proceeded to put the thing together.

Next thing I knew my stomach was telling me it was lunchtime so I nipped home, pleased with progress.  On returning to school I popped into the office to pass the time of day with Mark, a new acquaintance, who was working on his laptop.  With typical blokish diplomacy he greeted me with “hi mate,I’ve just looked at that bike rack, did you know you’ve put those bolts in the wrong way up”.  Despite my protests he insisted that he was right and would go so far as to put his mortgage on it!  Foolishly I still defended my position before checking out his.  Secretly I was thinking – I’m the practical one around here, what does he know?  Woops!

I admit to feeling cross as I left the office and surprised at the strength of my reaction to Mark.  I was so sure that I’d got it right.  I was well on the way to completing the assembly and didn’t really want to take it all apart but a little voice in my head was saying :”why not check out what Mark is saying?  At the very worst you might be wrong.”  To cut a long story short, Mark’s observation was valid and I followed his advice; the bike racks looked far better.  And yes I did concede to him that I’d got it wrong!

I’m not going to labour any points from this story. Rather I’ll point out that this incident opened the way for Mark and I to share some really meaningful conversations during the summer.