Zits are like mistakes; one likely will pop up at the most inopportune moment to help you realize you can't control everything. And mistakes are like zits, you can cover them up, but that makes them less likely to go away. If you try to squeeze them away with force, they usually end up making a worse mess and sometimes even leave terrible scars.

I recently made two mistakes in one story, something I don't do often. Some things, actuaries will tell you, are a matter of numbers. Each person who drives a car will be in some sort of a mishap at least every three years, the odds tell us. Along those same lines, a person working for a newspaper will make a mistake of some sort at least every few months.

The errors weren't glaring to a proofreader, only the omission of a word in one sentence and the omission of two letters in another. But they were there, nonetheless.

In addition, other problems have cropped up to challenge me, including some illnesses in my family, a few mild relational problems with friends, some mild personal health issues and the challenges of returning to work after a couple of days off traveling to a business function.

I also didn't get enough firewood stacked on the porch before the rain started and I left town, which lead to me running out of dry wood on Monday with no fire in the stove. At least that gave me an opportunity to clean out my flue pipe that evening, which needed to be done anyway.

Other than that, things are going great. Anyway, it's seldom one problem that bothers me, it's the combination of a number of them at once.

I've learned in life that problems are really relative. Those who have really big problems usually overlook a few zits, while those with few problems will make a single blemish into a serious case of the hives.

I can remember having a few facial blemishes as a teen and thinking, "I would look pretty good if I didn't have these." I would often look forward to growing older, since the older people I knew had fewer skin blemishes.

Little did I know what was to come. Not too many years later, the pimples dried up, but then part of my hair fell out, my teeth yellowed, my belly grew and wrinkles started forming. Acne seems almost inconsequential with all that stuff going on.

I always try to look for a brighter cloud in the stormy skies of life, but sometimes find myself capped with my realist's attitude that seldom allows baseless optimism.

To clarify, an optimist says the glass is half full; a pessimist says its half empty. A realist says you have half a glass and that might be good or bad depending on how big your glass is, what the fluid is, what your needs are and how many other sources of nourishment you might have. Get back with me when you have more details and I might be able to come up with a comprehensive plan to keep you from over filling the glass, thus causing a spilling hazard, or from constantly considering how full your glass is when you should be out doing something more productive. However, if you are a waitress, half a glass is an opportunity to fill it up and thus come closer to earning a good tip. It's all in your point of view.

So, when problems come, I try deal with them in the physical realm while also maintaining control on an emotional and spiritual level.

However, I do tend to analyze them to death, in part to ensure that they are corrected before recurring. Such an analytical process is good in that way, but it also tends to keep the problem or mistake close at hand for a longer period of time.

I was talking with a fellow the other day about problems and he had a very good perspective on things. He was sitting in my office when I got a call from a reader about a problem and, after I took care of the problem, I explained to him that I hear from irate people from time to time and that I try hard to handle each problem in a courteous, professional manner. Sometimes it is easier than other times, I confided. "Everyone thinks their problem is the most important," I said without thinking.

We here at the newspaper never make a mistake on purpose. We take our jobs seriously and every staff member works hard each week to produce an error-free product. However, error-free is an ideal that can seldom be reached with the volume of work, time constraints and the nature of the media that we work with. Not to mention the fact that to err is human.

Anyway, he told me that he was talking to a fellow with a beef about one thing or the other a few days earlier. "I told him, I have lung cancer, what's your problem?" He said the fellow didn't have much more to say. I'd say that would shut up most arguments pretty effectively.

Now there's a man who knows what it is like to have a real problem, not just a little pimple on an otherwise attractive face, but a big glaring wound that likely will leave scars reaching soul-deep, if it is survived. But he has gained wisdom in months that some who live ordinary lives never manage to obtain. Don't sweat the small stuff and most of life's problems are small stuff, no matter how big they may appear to be when they first rear their heads like that pimple in the bathroom mirror on the morning before the prom.

Cancer is a disease that takes away many lives, but it isn't impossible to battle. Every year many who have survived the fight gather to commemorate their ongoing war with the disease at the Relay for Life. These 'survivors,' as they are called, are an impressive sight. I admire their will to wear a brave face as they fight against long odds to keep their hope alive as they live one day at a time.

We should all be living our lives one day at a time, as if our time is limited here—mainly because it is. Indeed, we should all live daily with a smile, backed up by bravery and determination. Those facts become apparent when one comes face-to-face with a man or woman whose life is on the line.

That kind of perspective can only show us the truth about how tiny our own problems can be perceived if viewed through a different lens. Along those lines, I was given a photo today showing a fire scene somewhat in the distance, filling about one third the frame. "That isn't very far away," I said. "That looks like it's within walking distance. Why didn't you move in closer?"

"Those were taken with the zoom," came the reply. After looking through the other pictures, I saw the true distance: at least four or five times the distance of the photo I first saw.

Don't we all tend to use the 'zoom' lens when we have a problem and thus bring the problem closer to ourselves, rather than look at the scene at a wider angle and keeping our problems the proper size and at the proper distance?

I don't know about anyone else, but I say that I prefer to have my problems be as small a part of the landscape as possible, all the while using a zoom lens to magnify them to impossible sizes and draw them closer to my every waking thought.

In learning from my mistakes, I hope to continue to take problems seriously, but not to allow them to steal one ounce of my peace, joy and strength. It never pays to dwell in difficulty, an action that makes it impossible to rise above challenges. I endeavor to cherish and maintain the faith and hope of a Christian, the heart of a loving parent, the hands of a volunteer and the mind of an eager student.

I believe that those traits, along with my newfound and rejuvenated wisdom in the power of perspective, will serve me well.

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