"Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life." -Sophia Loren

I find myself on a somewhat regular basis saying “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” One of the greatest gifts/challenges human beings have is the ability to make choices. Decision making is often measured by the aftermath to determine whether or not a good choice was made. It is difficult to know the outcome of a decision until it is made. Which made me think should we focus on the outcome of a decision or rather focus on the thought process it took to make that decision to determine the severity of the mistake?

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World, the reader is able to see both past and present decisions made by the main character Masuji Ono. The reader is able to see the thought process of Ono and this helps to better understand why he has made certain choices. Ono realizes that many people do not approve of his past decisions but he understands why he made those choices. “There are some…who believe my career to have been a negative influence…There are some who would say it is people like myself who are responsible for the terrible things that happened to this nation of ours” (pg. 123).

Ono’s decision to paint propaganda seems overall to be a bad choice but if we break down the thought process to see why Ono made this decision, in my opinion, it seems more understandable. Ono admits that he has made mistakes but also does not blame himself for his mistakes. “As far as I’m concerned, I freely admit I made many mistakes. ..All I can say is that at the time I acted in good faith” (pg. 123). Ono had good intentions for wanting involvement in creating propaganda. He had his countries best interests in mind and overall wanted to help his countries efforts. The first step to learning from mistakes is being able to admit that you made one.

It is human nature to make mistakes. Everyday people are faced with difficult decisions and often times the wrong choice is made. I think it is important for people to learn from their mistakes and to grow from them. I think the best way to learn from mistakes is to be able to look back and understand what thought process led you to the choice you made. I think being able to understand your thought process for past mistakes can help you reshape your thinking pattern, so hopefully better choices will be made in the future.