Go on, own that embarrassing flub
Being able to admit to your mistakes is more endearing than covering them up with bad excuses.
RECENTLY US President Donald Trump went viral for calling Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Tim Apple.
The media and late night TV show hosts went into a frenzy calling out the latest Trump gaffe. Honestly, I am no fan of The Donald but sometimes what he calls the “fake news” really do jump all over everything just to get a laugh at his expense.
So what did DT do? Of course, he went all out to defend the verbal mishap.
He stated that he said Tim Cook Apple, but said the Cook very softly so that it was only heard as Tim Apple. Uh ... OK.
That really doesn’t make things any better since you don’t usually call business owners by their full name followed by their company’s name either. You don’t go around talking about that Elon Musk Tesla guy or Richard Branson Virgin.
Realising that his latest rationalisation didn’t make sense, The Donald retreated to Twitter where he offered the following explanation:
“At a recent round table meeting of business executives, & long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words. The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!”
Yes. Because in your need to save words you then spouted a bunch of words about how you said the Cook in his name too softly, then spent time tweeting out a ridiculous explanation for a momentary verbal lapse.
And let’s be straight up about this. We all do this. We all use the wrong word at the wrong time, we mess up names. It happens to all of us. I thought for years my hairdresser’s name was David but it was actually Frances.
Yes. People make mistakes. If DT had simply laughed at the time and said, “Oops sorry, Tim Cook”, there would be nothing to make fun of. If DT hadn’t so laughably offered up ludicrous rationalisations for why he made a verbal gaffe, people wouldn’t still be laughing.
It’s funny because the motivation behind the lies is so painfully obvious to everyone except the person doing the lying.
It’s all insecurity.
Sometimes I think life is a constant struggle with insecurity. I know it’s like that for me.
As a writer and actor I’m constantly shifting between, “Hey, I did OK there” to “well that was completely terrible” and back again. I think that’s the truth for most of us. In any job. It’s all part of the human condition. Everyone is insecure.
It’s just how we deal with it. Some people build up walls around their psyche. They become stand offish, brag, deflect – there are any number of ways to cover up the fact that, really, we’re just worried that other people will reject us instead of accepting us, hate us instead of loving us.
And not admitting faults – faults so obvious they’re plain to everyone – just makes someone even more unlikable. When someone owns their mistakes, it makes them vulnerable, which none of us like to be but which offers something. Instead of closing up, you’re trusting those around you with a piece of yourself.
And that is when people can connect. People don’t connect well through walls, physical or otherwise.
Which brings me back to The Donald. I actually feel a little sorry for him. A man who is so chained to his insecurity that at 70+ years of age, when you should have the wisdom of decades, you’re still so worried about how you appear that you’ll lie desperately to cover up a simple verbal mistake.
Someone should tell him, next time he makes a little mistake like that while talking, just acknowledge it, laugh at yourself, make a little joke, because ultimately it’s not a big deal, and being able to admit your mistakes is more endearing than covering them up with bad excuses.
Avid writer Jason Godfrey – who once was told to give the camera a ‘big smile, no teeth’ – has worked internationally for two decades in fashion and continues to work in dramas, documentaries, and lifestyle programming. Write to him at star2@thestar.com.my and check out his stuff at jasongodfrey.co.