REFLECTION -- Second Chances

Second Chances

By Dana Bosley

Mistakes are humbling and discouraging, especially when others feel the repercussions. When people see how their mistakes have hurt others, they are usually sorry. They want to make amends, to do better. More than ever, this is when they need to feel trusted—that someone has faith in them.

Remember that the next time someone around you makes a mistake. If it’s within your power, look for ways to give the person a second chance.

It’s difficult not to react negatively and make others feel bad for their mistakes. It is strength, not weakness, to give people a second chance when they are truly sorry for their mistakes and want to do better.

Often people will succeed or fail according to the amount of faith others express in them. If people feel that others expect them to fail, they often quit short of their potential. They think, What’s the use? Everyone already thinks I’m a failure! But if others express faith in them, even when it involves overlooking their weak points and forgiving them for their mistakes, this encourages them to stretch themselves and do better. They will want to live up to the faith you have placed in them.

It reminds me of the story that Dale Carnegie tells about Bob Hoover, a famous test pilot and frequent performer at air shows, was returning to his home in Los Angeles from an air show in San Diego. As described in the magazine Flight Operations, at three hundred feet in the air, both engines suddenly stopped. By deft maneuvering he managed to land the plane, but it was badly damaged although nobody was hurt.

Hoover's first act after the emergency landing was to inspect the airplane's fuel. Just as he suspected, the WW2 propeller plane he had been flying had been fueled with jet fuel rather than gasoline.

Upon returning to the airport, he asked to see the mechanic who had serviced his airplane. The young man was sick with the agony of his mistake. Tears streamed down his face as Hoover approached. He had just caused the loss of a very expensive plane and could have caused the loss of three lives as well.

You can imagine Hoover's anger. One could anticipate the tongue-lashing that this proud and precise pilot would unleash for that carelessness. But Hoover didn't scold the mechanic; he didn't even criticize him. Instead, he put his big arm around the man's shoulder and said, "To show you I'm sure that you'll never do this again, I want you to service my F-51 tomorrow."

How would you have reacted? Now that’s something to think about. If it’s not the way Hoover reacted but in anger than it’s time to rethink.