#AnimatED: Living with mistakes

As 2015 comes to a close, a filament of thought hangs in the air, rising from the global gaffe of Miss Universe emcee Steve Harvey. It is this: mistakes are moments that define one’s character.

Harvey owned up to his horrendously embarrassing lapse, before millions watching the show live on TV and cyberspace. He took full responsibility. Furthermore, he apologized on Twitter, although he deleted this after he realized he misspelled the countries of the two victims (Colombia and the Philippines) of his mix-up. 

If only the jeers, memes, and jokes left tangible marks on Harvey, it would be like having eggs and tomatoes splattered on his face, pots and pans flying toward his direction. 

Despite his apology, people will not easily forget this error, a perfect subject for conversation in this digital age. It comes with Harvey’s stature, a celebrity who makes people laugh—and now finds that the joke is on him. It comes with the event, a momentous multi-country contest that has had its wide following for decades.

The higher the status, the steeper the fall. Mega-stars live with mega-mistakes. But Harvey appears to be handling the fallout well, making light of his monumental blunder in his Christmas post on Facebook greeting his followers a “Merry Easter.”

In the scheme of things, Harvey’s bungling is mainly his to bear, to account for. While it was initially devastating for Miss Colombia, it didn’t hurt the public, it didn’t leave a trail of shattered lives and broken dreams.

As the noise on the Miss Universe fiasco recedes into the background, as we move on to a new year, what happened on the glittering stage in Las Vegas pales in comparison to bigger mistakes that have happened, those that changed lives forever.

Remember the AirAsia Indonesia crash in December 2014 that killed more than 100 passengers? Without missing a beat, Tony Fernandes, AirAsia CEO, profusely apologized, adding: “The passengers were on my aircraft and I have to take responsibility for that.”

Fernandes’s handling of the crisis showed strength of leadership and a facet of his character: he had the humility to accept responsibility for the accident and acted with dispatch in helping the families of the victims.

Contrast this to the behavior of the Lehman Brothers CEO, Richard Fuld. In 2008, the global investment bank collapsed, triggering a worldwide financial crisis which caused slower growth in developing countries and, some studies say, increased poverty.

When Fuld testified in 2010 before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, he offered no apologies on the role of Lehman Brothers . He has maintained that stance. Years later, in his first public speech since the crisis, he remained unapologetic, laying the blame instead on others.

People are shaped by many factors and mistakes are one of them. How these are handled are windows into one’s character – and could be defining moments. – Rappler.com