“Mistakes were made,” said the CEO as he discussed the illegal activity his company had been involved in. He looked regretful, yet he kept blame at arm’s length and couldn’t admit he had personally done anything wrong.
Some “mistakes” are just
mistakes: driving in the wrong direction, forgetting to set a timer and burning
dinner, miscalculating your checkbook balance. But then there are the
deliberate deeds that go far beyond—God calls those sin. When God questioned Adam and Eve about
why they had disobeyed Him, they quickly tried to shift the blame to another
(Genesis 3:8-13). Aaron took no personal responsibility when the people built a
golden calf to worship in the desert. He explained to Moses, “[The people] gave
me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
(Exodus 32:24).
He might as well have muttered, “Mistakes were made.”
Sometimes it seems easier to blame someone else rather
than admitting our own failings. Equally dangerous is to try to minimize our
sin by calling it “just a mistake” instead of acknowledging its true nature.
Our High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, have
taught us the true path of teshuva,
repentance. The four Rs of teshuva
are: 1, Recognize that you’ve done something wrong; 2, Regret what you have
done something wrong; 3, Repent with words by confessing and making restitution
if applicable; 4, Resolve not to commit the sin again when the opportunity
arises a new.
Every day we have the opportunity to make our
relationship God and our fellow human beings right again with true teshuva.
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