Mistakes Can Yield Positive Outcomes

For those of you who don't know, I joined my local chapter of the Marine Corps League a few months back.  For the most part, I've kept silent during the meetings, and focused on getting to know the other Marines in the chapter.

Last month's meeting was a doozie for me.  I made three screw-ups.  First, I went to the local VFW, where the meetings are held, and asked to start a tab.  The woman behind the bar took my credit card and proceeded to bring me drinks as I ordered them.  Shortly before our meeting started, I asked her to close out my tab and at that point discovered that the VFW doesn't take credit cards.  Long story short, I didn't have enough cash to pay the tab; one of my fellow MCL members bailed me out.  (I'm still not sure why the bartender took my card when I asked to run the tab, but that's really not the point here.)

I went on to break two rules during the meeting...

-There was a rather heated discussion between a Marine who held the floor and the leadership.  Out of turn, I yelled that they needed to take things offline.  I stand by what I said, but the point is that I spoke out of turn, which is a transgression of decorum.

-Later on, I talked politics during the meeting, not realizing that doing so is strictly prohibited.

These were all honest mistakes, made out of ignorance.  Regardless, I felt the need to own up to these mistakes.  During this month's meeting, I repaid my debt, with interest.  And when the opportunity arose, I stood and publicly apologized for my errors, specifically stating that I made the blunder in public, making it only appropriate to publicly acknowledge the gaffes as well.

I really had no expectations as to the outcome.  I did what I did because character dictated that since I screwed up publicly that I must also apologize publicly.  Interestingly enough, I actually received applause for my apology, and I believe that I earned some respect for my actions.

What I'm writing today is not designed to garner kudos for my actions.  What I am attempting to do is express that sometimes mistakes can yield positive outcomes, and I'm using a personal experience as an example.  If I had never made these errors, I would have remained one of the new guys in my MCL chapter, slowly familiarizing myself with the people and the traditions of the organization.  If I had made the mistake and let it go, it probably would have been written off as a rookie mistake.  But my chosen action earned respect from several members of the group.