In Elementary and even up to
Highschool, we have the tendency to openly laugh at someone’s error. A classmate would verbalize the wrong answer,
or perhaps a blooper in delivery, and we almost automatically laugh at
him/her. Some would even go as far as
pointing fingers, mocking the poor learner.
It is here where most of the bashful students refuse to speak his/her
opinion(s) and join the discussion. The
fear of getting mocked, ridiculed, or teased.
All because of this, somehow innocent, reaction towards another person’s
mistake.
Teachers of that time found
a band aid to this. Almost always, the
teacher shush the laughing students then proceed with a lecture: Laugh at your
own mistakes. To me at that time, it
does make sense. It is a difficult practice
to laugh at your own mistakes. Since
image is a big matter to kids, laughing at one’s own mistake means admitting a
flaw and subjecting one’s self to public ridicule.
Remembering my childhood, I
personally believe that I’m not one of those who laugh at people’s mistakes
unless the mistake itself is funny (which is rare). I believe mocking someone because of an slip-up
is bullying. And since I was bullied occasionally,
I refused to bully anyone myself. It
just felt wrong. But if I ever laughed,
it was the mistake itself that I found funny.
Mostly in my mind, I put myself in the person’s situation and find how
ridiculous I’d look like committing such error.
I believe that’s how my mind worked when I was a kid. So at one point, I got tired of the teacher’s
repetitive lecture and thought to myself, “Why not? Laugh at my own mistakes? Why not?”
It wasn’t hard for me to put
this into practice. Whenever I recognize
my error, I talk to myself (sometimes verbally) and call myself “stupid.” In time, it became a reflex that I laugh at myself
whenever I be at fault. To me, it seems
a healthy attitude rather than getting upset.
The problem is when people are around.
In most cases, witnesses find such manner a bad thing. In numerous accounts, I got myself into
trouble when I laugh at my own mistakes. If the person beside me wasn’t aware
that I made an error, then he/she thinks I’m crazy for laughing by myself. A mentality that I hate but there’s nothing I
can do about. And if the person knows
that I made a mistake and is offended by it, then I laughed (or even just the
slightest smile), that person finds it offensive with the thought that I’m not
taking him/her seriously.
Laugh at your own
mistakes. My teachers were right. It is quite difficult to do so as a kid. And having such an attitude builds a healthy
character, in my opinion. But in most
cases, it isn’t a sound advice. To this
day, I laugh at my own mistakes especially in public. Perhaps not a laugh, but a smirk, a smile, a
snicker, or just one “Ha.” I laugh (or
something close to that) especially when someone is around. Letting them know that I’m aware of my mishap,
that I need no lecturing. At least that’s
how I think of it. But guess what? It still gets me into trouble sometimes. Somehow, some people like to see someone get
upset over his/her own mistake. Those
people who expect everyone to keep a perfect image… whatever that means. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I had
to leave my job before. I believe I was
an excellent worker. But one time, I was
trying out something new which didn’t work out well. It didn’t cost the company more money than 5
minutes of my paid time. I laughed at
myself, shaking my head, and uttered, “Lesson learned.” This offended my superior. To him, it wasn’t that I made a mistake and
cost them some money. It was that I wasn’t
taking the company seriously with such an attitude. And I suffered for 6 months because of that
until I got tired of it and left the company.
Perhaps they’re right. Perhaps they over reacted. Perhaps I was wrong. But again, I say, the teacher’s advice of
laughing at one’s own mistake, isn’t really practical. It would shut up some bullies, but I think
that’s all it makes.
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