“Myself.” It’s a simple word, but somehow it gained new significance last week.

It wasn’t for something the word did, or even what it means. The reason it became significant was because it wasn’t there.

“What?” You may be asking about right now.

Last week’s column ended with the sentence, “It is those little pieces of encouragement that make me feel like, at least sometimes, this column might be worthwhile to someone besides...” Due to an error, the last word, which was “myself” was lost in some other dimension, an alternate realm where words go when they don’t ‘fit’ into a box in the newspaper’s layout program. I had gone back to the column after my loyal friends and proofreaders found an error or two. Correcting those apparently made the column one line, or sentence, longer, resulting in the loss of the last line. As we all now know, that line contained the final word of the column and a period. I usually go back and look over my work to make sure nothing was accidentally deleted. This time, I missed it.

Of course, it could have been worse, but I have been up to my armpits in angst over the fact that readers everywhere were searching in vain for the rest of the column, not realizing that only one simple word was missing. I hope none of you lost sleep.

OK, maybe that’s a bit melodramatic, but you get the point.

Obviously, I say it could have been worse because mistakes are sometimes terrible things in my business. Think about printing someone’s name incorrectly or messing up and having a misprint of fact. As often as not when that happens, we have been lead astray by erroneous information, but that doesn’t make it any better. Other times, errant fingers on the keyboard can play tricks on the unwary journalist.

I place all the different possible kinds of errors under one big banner and call them all ‘mistakes.’

I have learned from them in the past, like the time I loaded the film incorrectly in my old Pentax K-1000 and took better than 40 pictures without ever really advancing the film even once. I got back from the assignment, a one-shot Saturday deal, and realized that there was nothing to go in the newspaper. From then on, I always double checked. I also have had the other silly errors that have plagued me, like a pen running out of ink, batteries going dead or running out of paper or film on assignment. Due to those mistakes, I always try to carry two pens, extra paper, extra batteries and, since film is pretty much obsolete now, an extra memory card for the digital camera. So mistakes can teach us to be more careful, even better. But that still doesn’t make them fun.

I told a lady who called upset about a story a while back that I am glad mistakes happen. If it weren’t for a mistake a few decades ago, I wouldn’t even be here. I’d say a lot of us wouldn’t be here. How can a life that began with a mistake not continue to encounter them?

Some goofs are funny later, but few draw laughs at the time. When I first started in newspapers, I designed advertisements. I once wrote one that said, Paid for by your fiends at... That’s important to know: The only difference between a friend and a fiend is one little ‘r.’

When recalling embarrassing errors, I also usually point out that I once typed a picture caption about the library and left the ‘l’ out of public. Luckily, someone caught that one before it went to press. Other times, we haven’t been so lucky. Like the time I said something was a ‘mute’ point instead of a ‘moot’ point. A mute point is one that is never made, right?

One error in a headline that I still hang on the wall of my office states, “Programs available to combat literacy.” You know, there are too many people reading out there, we need to work on that.

It always bothers me when people think that an error was intentional and created by design to cause harm. We’d be idiots playing a fool’s game if that were the case. Newspaper people work hard to avoid mistakes. So if you see one, please don’t take it personally. We’ve never messed up on purpose for any reason.

Along those lines, one of my alleged mistakes never happened at all, but only took place in rumors spread to people who had not yet read the paper but called to complain nonetheless. An elderly woman called me one time to complain we called her son, “The Muffin Man.” Perplexed, and privately somewhat amused by the accusation, I turned to the newspaper that had just been published and saw that he had been charged with stealing a muffin and that charge was listed with the warrants. However, it wasn’t so funny a subhead; it simply said, “Muffin Theft.”

The lady was given false information by someone else who had read the story the day the paper came out. On a serious note, I would never use the newspaper to make fun of anyone or their situation. On a less serious note, I must admit to singing the song in my head for most of the day after that, “Yes I am the muffin man, the muffin man is what I am.” I don’t know where Drury Lane might be, but I hear it’s a fine place to find a muffin. Just don’t steal it, or we’ll put your name in the newspaper.

Usually the mistakes I make are legitimate. I remember having the names of two county workers messed up beyond recognition in a cutline after I had went through a fix on another mistake with a find and replace command (like spell check) in another story and accidentally switched the names to Moxley and something else, I think it was Young. Since I know both those fellows pretty well, I was very embarrassed. I apologized, and luckily, they were kind enough to forgive me. Most everyone I have wronged has been gracious in accepting my apologies. But I bet they didn’t forget it.

While I am only listing a few amusing examples of my mistakes, there have been many, many more. I have often said that anyone who doesn’t make mistakes isn’t doing anything worthwhile. Just try to remember that if you see your name misspelled or picture misidentified.

One final note: Many people hate having their flaws pointed out, but newspaper people appreciate it. Our goal is to create an accurate historical record, not insult or embarrass anyone. So if you see us goof, let us know. We’ll try to make things right.

As for the personal side of the mistakes, I try not to take myself too seriously nor be offended too easily. Thin skinned folks tend to bleed a lot, especially in this business. Besides, without mistakes, what would I write about?

Surely no one would be amused by what I did right. That’s another thing about mistakes: hearing ones made by others makes us feel better about the ones we make ourselves. I hope I’ve made you feel better.

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