The Best $600 I Never Spent

About 2.5 years ago, my car developed a nervous tic.  The front passenger blinker went out.  I swapped out the bulb, to no avail.  My local garage claimed that they didn't know how to fix it.  Finally, in desperation, I took it to the dealership.  The dealer claimed to have found the problem and were happy to fix it, but wanted $600.  They also claimed that they needed a full day to do it, which meant that I would have to bring my car back.  Frankly, I didn't have the time.

Since then, I've been annoyed at my non-functioning blinker signal, but not annoyed enough to spend $600 to do something about it.

Fast forward to about 2.5 months ago.  I was minding my own business while driving down the freeway.  I looked up to see a semi truck stopped in the middle of the freeway in front of me:

It kinda looked like this but bigger...

My life literally flashed before my eyes as I braced for impact.  I resigned myself to the inevitable, but I made a desperate maneuver at evasive action as I slammed on the brakes.  Miraculously, it worked.  Mostly.

I knew I'd hit something, but I didn't know what and I didn't know how bad.  The semi sped off--unharmed. I doubt he even felt me.  I pulled off at the next off-ramp to assess the damage.  Here's what I saw...

Ouch!

Somehow, I had managed to shatter my headlight--leaving nothing else damaged.  The headlight still worked even!  I felt like I had dodged a bullet.

I went online and was able to order replacement parts at a fraction of what the dealership would have charged me.  Initially, I planned to have my local mechanic install the replacement for me, but they refused to do so since I hadn't bought the parts from them.  

Two weeks ago, I finally found some spare time on a Saturday to get around to fixing the problem.  I got R. to come out and be my assistant on the project.  I felt like it would be a good way to help teach him how to use tools and also have some good bonding time.  It reminded me of doing lots of projects on the car with my dad when I was a kid.

The project went so smoothly that I'm a little embarrassed that I (a) waited so long to finally fix the headlight and (b) was willing to spend up to $100 to have someone else replace it for me.

As a side benefit, the replacement headlight assembly fixed the turn signal problem that I'd been having.  It was a nice little silver lining.  Apparently the dealership had no idea what the problem was because their "solution" was to fix some other electronic part on the car.

All better!  :-)

The end result was great--the car looks (and works) better than ever!  All in all, despite the moment of terror, it all worked out and I'm sure glad that I didn't pay the dealership all that money to fix something on my car that wasn't even broken.  Considering that I got an additional bonus of doing a fun project with my son R., I'd say that was the best $600 that I never spent!

Mistakes...

I've always thought this Demotivational Poster was funny

Everybody makes mistakes.  I made two of them within an hour of waking up this morning (and I'm not counting the fact that I had to wake up at 6:45 a.m. as a mistake!).  My mistakes were public and embarrassing.  I am disappointed in myself.  I've made these same mistakes before.  Why do they keep happening?

Even Michael Jordan Makes Mistakes on the Court:
Yesterday, my partner/colleague and I were driving home from a business meeting and he raised the topic of mistakes.  He coaches Little League Softball and was pondering the question of how to respond to mistakes in an effort to inspire his players to be better.

I love sports so I was sold.  And I started thinking about how we react to mistakes in sports.  First, this poster of the greatest basketball player of all time came to mind.

In what may have been one of the most heartbreaking games of all time, Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals on June 14, 1998, Michael Jordan did this:

Everyone remembers Michael Jordan hitting his last shot, but I wondered what the rest of the game looked like so I dug up the box score.  Jordan missed 20 shots in that game.  He also missed three free throws and he had a turnover.  Missing 20 shots is actually more shots than most players actually take during a game.

But the fact that he had missed 20 times did not deter MJ from taking that last shot.  And it went in.  To my chagrin and to the chagrin of all Jazz fans--it was like a dagger to the heart.

Mistakes in Life:
Unfortunately, some mistakes we make in life are more serious than missing a shot or shanking a putt.  When we make a mistake, we must realize it, correct it , and keep trying.  If we make the same mistake again, we need to repeat the process until we get it right.  We cannot allow ourselves to be defined by our mistakes.

I love this quote from President Teddy Roosevelt:

It’s not the critic who counts,

not the man who points out

how the strong man stumbles

or where the doer of deeds

could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man

who is actually in the arena,

whose face is marred

by dust and sweat and blood,

who strives valiantly,

who errs and comes short

again and again because

there is no effort without

error and shortcomings,

who knows the great devotion,

who spends himself in a worthy cause,

who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph

and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly,

knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls

who know neither victory nor defeat.

Teddy Roosevelt

There is nobility to "strive valiantly" and to keep trying even when we fall short.  The adversary would have us give up when we make a mistake.  But the only sure way to fail is to stop trying.  Some mistakes may be harder to overcome because of the nature of the mistake, but I believe that we can and will overcome them.  Especially with the help of the Savior.

This Easter season, we celebrate the Atonement.  Some mistakes that we make are so serious that we may need to take advantage of "this cool little thing called repentance."  Thanks to Christ's Atonement, we have that option.

We all make mistakes in life.  The Savior knows this and loves us anyway--in spite of our imperfections, not because of them.  I love the Prophet Moroni's closing counsel to the world about how Christ can help us overcome our imperfections:

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Moroni 10:32

It's comforting to know that I don't need to overcome my many mistakes on my own.  But I have faith that I can overcome them with the help of the Savior.

So even though I made those mistakes this morning, I'm not going to quit.  I'm not sure why they keep happening, but I think that, in part, they are a product of my competitive nature.  While that competitive nature can be good in some situations, I need to learn to control it where it does not serve me (or others).  I will apologize to those I offended (I actually already did) and I will keep trying.  And I'll hope that I don't make the same mistakes in the coming week.

Happy Easter!