Adversity


Click, knock, knock, click. Turn down the radio. Time to concentrate. What exactly is happening here? Oh, that's the unmistakable sound of a socket rolling around in my Honda's cylinder head. I pushed just a tiny but too hard, forced the spark plug further into the socket, pushing out the extension and leaving a half-pound of metal behind that had to be removed in order for the car to function. This has happened before; dropping a bolt from an oil line into the guts of a Kawasaki (magnetic, thank God), or the time I realized I mixed up two bolts on a BMW oil filter housing that took about five hours to remove, repair, and replace. The replay took about 2 hours. Or the time I forgot to put a pilot bearing in the tail of my '66 GTO's crankshaft on a clutch replacement. Holy cow, was that a disaster.

This. This is the sound of rework. This is the sound of calling a tow truck in utter humiliation as your repair gets repaired by an actual expert.

I'm totally kidding- no tow trucks were called at any time. What these moments really constitute are some of the strongest teaching moments of my life. I completely screwed up, and I eventually recovered, becoming a different person as a result. This can happen to anyone- a software programmer watching their code fizzle after compiling, a highway sign leaning under its own weight because the underlying soil is too soft, or a cook confusing baking soda for salt. If you're living life, these things are bound to happen.

What are the benefits of these epic failures? Character. Maturity. Knowing your limitations, and maybe hanging your skis over the edge an extra second or two before you dive into that hill. Anyone that knew me as a teenager had the pleasure of watching me raging like a fool when I tried to fix something and couldn't put it back together. I can't even tell you how many watches, bicycles, electric razors, transistor radios, and yes, fully functioning cars I damaged or destroyed between the ages of 8 and 16 in the name of science.

Somewhere between a raging teen and retirement, our frontal cortex finally comes on-line and all of those mistakes turn into experience. At mid-life, there is nothing more satisfying than having the patience and wisdom to take a step back, walk the dog, and start figuring out a creative way out the mess I got myself in. For what it's worth, the spark plug and socket came out with a bit of luck and steady hands, which was really just a critical lesson to use a feathery touch as I started working on 'the blind side'; the cylinder bank closest to the dashboard, which needs to be done by feel. Like everything in life, easy success teaches a mixed lesson. Was it easy or were you lucky? Hard-earned victory burns itself into your brain, turns you into a more self-assured person with good old American grit.

And in conclusion, this is why I don't believe in participation trophies. 😀

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