It started as a joke.

I was listening to a colleague who was explaining that science knows what happened milliseconds after The Big Bang, but not few seconds before.

I spontaneously joked, “What happened a few seconds before The Big Bang? God said ‘Oops’!”

The idea that The Universe was an unintended mistake by the Omnipotent and Omniscient God is very funny. Well, at least, to me.

But from a joke, it turned into a philosophical question to me.

What if you were given God-like quality that you will never make a mistake again in your life. In short, no more “oops”?

Would life still be interesting?

Some people say that we learn better from mistakes. Because mistakes, by definition, result in unpleasant consequences. And people really don’t like unpleasant situations. Hence the learning. And becoming better afterwards – hopefully.

Of course, there are some Oops that can be prevented by common sense. If you decide to ride a bike without helmet, that falls under downright idiotic Oops. And if you fall and crack your head, well, you had it coming.

But I’m talking about the non-lethal Oops. The ones with consequences that vary from minor embarrassment (think of wearing different pair of shoes, burping in-front of your in-laws), to medium consequences (making a mistake at school or work), to probably more serious one (end of relationship, bankruptcy.) For every Oops moments like these, there is an opportunity to reflect and learn. Unless of course, you jump out of a plane forgetting to bring the parachute along. There is probably no learning there.

A life without “Oops” are surely more successful (and most of the time, longer), but I wonder if it is as rewarding.

So here’s to our “Oops” moments. The ones that make us blush, laugh, cry, heart-broken, desperate, despaired, and many other unpleasantness. The ones that make us learn. The ones that make us, well, “human”.

🙂

“In the beginning The Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move” – from Hitchhiker’s Guide To Galaxy