Mistakes

Mistakes
Mistakes! Everybody makes them, but recently I made a very costly one. After three months of looking for a job I was lucky enough to be hired at Earl M. Jorgensen Steel (EMJ) where my brother-in-law Lam works. At age 65 I was not sure they would even consider me, but they liked my resume, and hired me after my first interview.
This was going to be a way for me to ramp up my savings for the next 3-4 years so when my wife May retired at 66 we could have all our bills paid off, and a new car to start our retirement.
I was going into my third week at EMJ and looking forward to July when I would have my 90 days probation finished. At one of the orientation meetings my boss told me that out of the four of us that were hired, two would be gone in 6 months because of attendance. I told him I rarely miss work, and that it would not be me. Boy was I mistaken.
That Monday night I decided to play wallyball since I had not played in 6 weeks. I thought I would just take it easy, and work up to playing again if it did not interfere with my job. The first game went ok, and about two minutes into the second game I stepped back, then lunged forward to get a ball.
The back of my right leg felt as if the concrete wall behind me fell on it. I turned around to see what fell on my leg, but there was nothing there. I knew right then that I had torn my Achilles tendon. This was almost the same thing that had happened to me 11 years ago when I tore my left Achilles. Swearing at myself for being so stupid, and taking a chance of getting hurt after starting a new job I chastised myself all the way home knowing I had just jeopardized my retirement, because I would most likely lose my job.
I went to work for the next three days hopping it was not torn. I told my boss that I had pulled a muscle in my leg, and that I would be all right. I called my doctor Tuesday, and set up an appointment for Thursday after work. The doctor gave me the bad news that I had to have surgery, and I would be in a cast for 8 weeks.
I went to work early the next day, and told my boss before I punched in that I needed surgery, and would be off 8-10 weeks. He told me my job might be in jeopardy, and that it was up to H.R.
I had surgery on Monday, and Tuesday received a letter from EMJ saying I had been dismissed for medical reasons. My only hope now is if they do not hire someone in the next 8-10 weeks, or if they do hire someone that it does not work out. Only time will tell if I have a chance to get back to work at EMJ.
The mistake I made was bad enough, but when I think about my son-in-law John, and the mistake that he made I am thankful that I am not in his shoes. John is in jail right now for a D.U.I. He has to spend two years, and won’t be out until 2012. I am sure that he felt the same way that I did that if he takes it easy nothing will happen, but both of us are paying the price for making bad decisions.
I only lost money & opportunity, but John is giving up something more important, and that is his freedom. I think about him every day, and how this probably eats away at him, and I hope that he does not let it get to him. John is a very bright, hard working guy that needs to get a break, but does not expect one.
I am writing this to let him know that everyday people my choices, and not all of them work out the way we expect. I personally know that even though I do not agree with all of the choices John makes that I think he makes very good decisions 95% of the time, which is more than most people make. I think that sometimes we only have to make one bad decision to screw up the rest of our lives.
I want John to know that he might have made a bad decision just like I did, but this is not one that is going to screw up the rest of his life. All he has to do is get through this, and when he gets back his freedom, we can sit around a campfire again and joke about how we both made some bad decisions. I miss having John around, but I am sure he misses not being around.
The one thing I am sure about is that there are a lot of people in the world that would trade their mistakes for ours, so John hang in there, and let us try not to make any more mistakes that make these look like small ones.
There is one more thing I would like to tell John. Do not give up hope. We have a tendency to dwell on our mistakes, and beat ourselves up because of them. Learn from your mistakes, and do not recede inside yourself hiding from everything around you. You may not be able to find hope, but if you do not put yourself in deep dark corner HOPE WILL FIND YOU.

Robert L. Murdoch 05/10/11