Hey, Maybe We’re All Human!

December 22, 2014

Sometimes I tell really embarrassing stories on this blog about messing up Daylight Saving Time, or thinking a race starts at 7:30 when it really starts at 7.

Every once in a while I think, “Oh, who am I?! Are people reading these ridiculous stories wondering how I even function, or get hired for anything, or live in general?”

(Of course there are other times when I’m not quite so dramatic and I think, “um, they’re interesting stories because they’re rare. And while that stuff is something I need to look at in myself, I’m not to the point of messing up any big work projects or anything like that… Anyway, I’m going off on a tangent.)

The point is, Councilman Joel Burns (a semi-famous ex-Councilman for Fort Worth Texas, who you might remember from his moving 2010 speech) shared a little story on Facebook. The reason he’s an ex-councilman, by the way, is because he resigned to go get a Master’s Degree at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

I would link you to his story, but unfortunately, for some reason he deleted it. (Maybe he got the same sense I do sometimes after posting that stuff when you wonder if you’re being funny and relatable, or if you’re sharing too much and looking like a fool…)

Anyway, I can give you the gist though. He was talking about writing this paper for class. Then re-writing, and re-writing some more (even to the point where he wasn’t sure it was even actually getting any better, so much as it was just making him feel better).

The paper was due at 11:59pm, and he turned it in mere minutes before the buzzer.

Then he realized he was in the Central Time Zone, as he’d come home for the holidays. So, his paper was actually late – meaning the points he’d get deducted for being late certainly outweighed any points he’d be earning for those last minor (and self-professed probably unnecessary) tweaks.

Of course with a clear head not in the final paper stress of Harvard grad school, you’re thinking, “Of course you’re in a different time zone! How could you forget that?” But being that I’ve obviously made sillier mistakes (some of which I linked at the top of this very post), I just thought, “Yep. I feel ya.”

So, there you have it. The next time you make a silly mistake like that, hopefully you can find some solace knowing that respected local politicians/students at a Harvard grad school(!) make silly time mistakes too.

Who’d ‘a thunk it?

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