Another Cataclysmic Mistake: Why IBleed

I bleed. Yes I bleed. I bleed because I ‘m a human. I wish I don’t. But hey, much as I try I still bleed. It reminds me of my stint with ‘The Ghanaian Voice’ newspaper back home. Back in the day when my mentor and News Editor Eddie Agyeman would cross my t’s and dot I’s. The imprint is still fresh on my mind. I remember how my scripts bled. The red ink leaked everywhere. They looked awful at times but it was all meant for good. Without a doubt it was the ‘VOICE’ that cut my eyeteeth.

Kwesi Pratt Jr. (Editor-In-Chief Insight newspaper) worked here. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo,a multiple award-winning journalistand a former BBC correspondent (once my editor at ‘The Ghanaian Chronicle) also had a spell here, I learned. Many media heavyweights across Ghana once plied their trade at the ‘VOICE’. Isn’t that humbling?

Thursday 8 February 2018 witnessed a major one. I bled. It was all over me. It was my mistake. My Article titled: ‘Lawmaker Wants Guns in Ghana’s Parliament?’ had an awkward landing. Unfortunately, she broke her ankle that caused the bleed. I wrote this: I never saw Grandpa carried Roger to funerals... It should have read I never saw Grandpa carry Roger to funerals. The paradox is that it didn’t just bleed once it bled through a couple of lines in that paragraph.

What do you do when they happen?
I think perhaps it’s every writer’s nightmare when you spot your mistakes flapping their wings everywhere. On websites, the social media and what have you. But hold on,you don’t have to beat down yourself simply because you made a mistake. Rather see it as a humbling experience. And above all, remember you are not alone in this circus. It happens in every profession.

T’s a great joy when we see our mistakes and correct them. But I think it’s a greater feeling when someone points those (mistakes) out to us and we take them in good faith. I experienced the latter feeling on Thursday morning when a good friend of mine Eric Oklu (Gbenzey) drew my attention to the blunder.

“Don’t you think it should be: I never saw grandpa carry instead of I never grandpa carried. Very powerful piece,” he concluded. Eric’s message came though at 3:52 am Pacific Time and I noticed it at 8:08 am. He must have sent it around midnight Eastern Time or 1:00am Central /Midwest Time.You’re absolutely right Eric thank you for bringing it to my attention I replied.

It was so humbling and inspiring. And I can only say this: I thank God for placing people like Eric , Daniel Afranie, Peter Francisco, Sammy Kissiedu, Kwabena Feyinka and anyone that once saw my mistakes in the course of my literary works and reached out to me. Guys I deeply appreciate your phone calls and terse messages.

I used to wonder don’t people see my mistakes. Don’t I have friends to say hey Jack I saw this while reading your write up? How come no one points out to me some of the mistakes I make in my daily writings?

Well, I’m glad some of you heard my SOS call.

I wish I can see every mistakes or errors I make. And I wish my mind will remind me when I commit such blunders. But they’ve failed me whenever I rely on them. It’s an indicative that I’ma human, I’m fallible and I’m susceptible to mistakes.

Indeed I wish I’ve the binocular eyes of the Owl or the intrepid eyes of the Eagle. Then I canpossibly see the tiny ant crawling underneath the Earth’s belly. Unfortunately, I don’t have them. Yes I don’t have them because I’m a human and I’ve limitations. But my limitations are also my strength. And my strength overwhelmingly defines who I am. They truly define me. And they make me to be me.

I don’t know how we individually receive such wake up calls or attention-drawing messages from our friends or the people that see our mistakes and alert us. But I can tell you that it gives me a greater satisfaction and I can liken it to snowflakes---that feathery ice crystal that display their delicate six fold symmetry when snow falls.

Truth is mistakesdo happen and they’ll continue to happen inasmuch as we ply our trade. They occur either through our negligence or fall through the cracks because they’re bound to happen. You may call it an oversight.

“Everyone will know it is an oversight anyway,” Eric wrote.

The ugly fact is not everyone thinks that way. Not everyone will or would accept your mistake as an oversight. And not everyone will remember the well-known phrase ‘to err is human..... I don’t know about you. But this is how I see my mistakes. I see them as achallenge. Anytime I make a mistake it reawakens me and it reminds me of who I am. It reminds me that I’m a mortal being not a superman. And that I can fall and rise or rise and fall.

Also, I think it’s foolhardy for one to assume that there will be no mistakes in the course of ones endeavour or labour.Perhaps that thought can only happen if one is virtually doing nothing. For example stay in your bubbles and refuse to see beyond your terrain.

As a writer strive all the time to ensure that I don’t see my piece bleed yet they happen. They bleed! II know Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II died in 1999. I remember where I was and what I was doing at the time yetI wrote 1997 as the year he passed on. You think Manhyia would forgive me?

There are several if not many of them that had gone under my radar screen. Sometimes I don’t notice them for hours, days or weeks. I’d had a paragraph of my write-up completely decapitated and I didn’t notice it until my good friend Cisco drew my attention to it.

You know when the mind races too fastand the fingers get so excited like little kids jumpingon tarpaulin you get that bleed. You might bleed and bleed till you can’t bleed any longer.When the keyboard is bored he only needs the kids (fingers) to poke him in the eye. Every key does its own thing and every strike breathes mixed feeling. Ugh I wish I didn’t do that. I wish it didn’t.

My avid readers will recall, this isn’t my first major bleed. On November 3 2016 I bled. That dictated my write-up titled: “My Mistakes my Flaws: How do they shape or define me?”

I’ve since not had a major bleed until yesterday. Until Dr. APAAK threatened that he and his brigade will carry guns to Ghana’s Parliament House. I get insulted sometimes. I get called out by some of my readers. I don’t get angry. I ignored them and carry on with my work. It’s a trade I enjoy and have utmost passion for. It’s a gift I will ever carry with me till death. And I believe even when I’m gone my literally works will still live on.

That said, I must add I’ve an army that supports me, a true battalion that have followed me in every step that I make. They’ve been there for me from the cradle and they’re here. You know yourselves my friends. It’s because of you that I do what I do. You’re incredibly awesome people.

I’ll end here with a piece of advice: Be joyful when the mistakes happen. Be glad and see every mistake as a springboard, because if doesn’t fall it would not spring. And remember after darkness comes light. But above all, cherish this day and make a wish that in all things—good or bad you’ll give him the glory.