I’m watching House S02E08 – The Mistake.
It’s an episode that describes Chase screwing up and the events leading to it and why it occurred. At the end of the episode, it’s revealed that his father passed away and he was too emotionally rattled to properly do his job.
The reason I’m watching it was that I had a similar, less dramatic issue today (no death involved).
To sum it up. I screwed up.
I didn’t call the correct Production Support group to fix something when I should have.
I went home early rather than stay late, after hours, and stay until a production issue was fixed.
I did it because I let my guard down for 1 afternoon, 1 moment, 1 day.
Because I wasn’t getting sick. I was exhausted, at work, mentally and physically weak. About to go home. When this production issue happened. And I wasn’t as diligent as I generally would have been. I was careless.
A couple weeks later and this whole issue turned pretty bad. I didn’t really get in trouble…but personally, I feel that…I didn’t perform to my best abilities. Because I was sick.
I just kept thinking about 2 things today:
1. The Mistake, which I’m watching right now because the situations are somewhat similar.
2. “Yudan sezu ni ikÅ”. Tezuka Kunimistsu’s favorite phrase. It translates to Don’t be careless or Don’t let down your guard.
I appreciate the quote much more as I understand/feel that eternal vigilance can be incredibly difficult at all times. That’s it’s actually very hard to never be careless…sometimes outside or internal factors have their way with you, regardless of how careful you are.
I also appreciate the role of a doctor/surgeon/any job that requires you to be in a strong mental and emotional state. You can’t do your job if you’re not feeling well. If your judgement is clouded for whatever reason. Sometimes the slightest of mistakes, the moments of carelessness, can have serious repercussions. A crane operator, a crossing guard, even a person simply driving a car…you take it all for granted but a momentary lapse in judgement, the wrong gesture or an unexpected feeling of exhaustion…any type of carelessness, could cause serious damage. It only takes a moment.
I would consider myself a very careful person. I plan and backup plan. But I feel a renewed resolve to be more careful in the future.
Yudan sezu ni ikÅ