Diane Mierzwik

February 21,2010

Do you ever read what is supposed to be an inspirational saying and think, “What?”

This week, in my “A Woman’s Journal of Inspiration” this saying by Margaret Mead was at the top of the page, “Even though the ship may do down, the journey goes on.”

To which I thought, “What? Yeah, the journey may go on, but not with me because I’d be dead. Drowned.”

I’m a pretty good swimmer, good enough to know that floating on my back is the best way to keep afloat for long periods of time. Not good enough to believe that if the ship went down, I would survive it. If my boat went down, that would be a different story. I can usually see the shore from the middle of Lake Mohave. But, the ship, I don’t think so.

How exactly is this supposed to inspire me, I wondered. Then I began to worry about the other sayings and if I had paid close enough attention to them for inconsistencies.

Then I found this one by Colette, “You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” I wasn’t so much inspired by this saying as reassured. It’s nice to know that there are other women out there who make fools of themselves with great enthusiasm. I don’t feel so alone when I wear a bright orange scarf to a conference, piss of one of the presenters and fail to take off the scarf so that pointing me out to all her buddies will be easy. “Here I am, the foolish one,” my scarf said with great enthusiasm. Colette would be proud.

I worried that maybe the book had been published by men trying to trick me. They probably left out the most important parts of the sayings, like the part about how once the ship goes down, the journey will go on because a rescue boat will pick you up and be filled with ruggedly handsome Coast Guards who only want to be sure you make it safely to shore. Or the part about doing foolish things with great enthusiasm in the privacy of your home, not at a two day conference wearing a bright orange scarf.

Then my son came in and announced he had decided on his senior quote. “Do your best, forget the rest.” Not my quote, probably not even Reverend Run’s quote but that’s who I got it from. My son thinks he got it from me.

And I wonder. Someday will someone be reading inspirational quotes and read “Do your best, forget the rest” by Diane Mierzwik and wonder, “Yeah, but what about learning from your mistakes. If I forget the rest, how will I learn and not repeat the same stupid mistakes?’

I’d reply, “You mean a mistake like wearing a bright orange scarf to a two day conference knowing deep in your heart that with your big mouth you will probably piss off someone and that scarf will help you to stick out from all the other well-behaved attendees. That type of mistake?”

Yeah, just forget it. It’s not like I’m going to stop having a big mouth any time soon. Besides, orange looks good on me. No, that would be the end of my inspirational quote because I’m a fan of mistake-amnesia.

This week I will focus on what I do best, and forget the rest, like drowning or doing foolish things with great enthusiasm.