Wrong and right

Just the other night I wondered if I'd been wrong. I had gone ahead and planted about 200 tomato plants and here it was supposed to frost. This was not what I wanted to hear. Normally here where we live in Missouri, if about the middle of April the 10-day forecast looks good, we are through with frost. Not this year. It frosted, but we had everything covered so no problems. I was wrong in planting so early, but at the same time, by covering everything, it turned out OK, so in the end it was OK. Maybe not a really good right but OK.

Being "right" and being "wrong" is familiar to all of us. We all if we will admit it have been right and wrong. If someone says they have never been wrong, they haven't done anything or they're lying. If you do anything, you will be both right and wrong. Back in seminary when I was working on my doctor of ministry, I took a class on leadership, and we had the opportunity to read about the Fortune 500 companies. One of the companies stood out because it rewarded its employees for being wrong. The company felt that if the employees weren't afraid to be wrong, they would keep striving to find a solution and in the end a "right" and a win for the company.

This was an "Oh Gosh" moment for me. So what if I was wrong, if I was searching for a win or a right? Years ago I bought some drip irrigation to use on our grape vines and some of our trees. I got to wondering if I could use it on my tomato plants so I tried it. The drippers were 36 inches apart, so I planted my tomatoes 36 inches apart. The drippers put out a gallon an hour so I'd run the drippers for about an hour every couple days. Man, it really worked to water them. But the vines were a little too far apart and it was really hard spacing the tomato plants at the right pattern. Cost a bunch. I was kind of right and kind of wrong. But I learned a lot. But these drip tubes led into the drip system I currently use.

Can't tell you how many times I've been wrong just when it comes to gardening. Just last year, I bought some supposedly awesome seeds that were supposed to be really good. Wrong. I'm trying a number of new to me varieties of cucumbers this year. Most will be flops, but hopefully there will be one or two that will be a success. A couple will be right and not wrong. But if they all turn out wrong then I'll know not to buy them again.

I've spent years studying to be a minister and thought I knew God's Word. I'd even preached on a certain passage back in the Old Testament. As time went by I realized I'd been wrong in my interpretation of that particular passage, so I had to preach it the right way. It didn't deal with a whole lot of change, but I had been wrong and now could say to myself I am right. Many times being right or wrong is a personal thing. Several years ago I used cyprus mulch around our tomatoes in the high tunnels. Wrong! Those chunks of Cyprus mulch are painful on ones knees. Really wrong! Last couple years we've used sawdust. Now this is right.

When we lived in Oklahoma we bought a '72 Chevy pickup from a friend of Marge's, and it was in almost immaculate condition. Not so good on gas, but it was in great shape. We moved to Kentucky and eventually a new little pickup caught our eye, so we traded off the old Chevy. Dumb decision and totally wrong. Wish we had kept it. Kind of like our '76 Dodge Dart with a slant-six and a manual four-speed on the floor. Wish we had kept it. Another wrong! But isn't that what life is? A succession of rights and wrongs.

But really one of the hardest things for most of us is to admit we were wrong. Most of the time if being wrong involves other people, we not only were wrong, we probably now need to apologize. Now that is downright difficult. Being wrong and then admitting we were wrong and then making it right is hard. Really hard.

Something that goes hand in hand with being right and wrong is our pointing out others rights and wrongs. "Did you see what Tom did?" Or did you hear what Betty did? Accusations of being right and wrong used to light up the old party lines back in Nebraska as gossip was spread. Tom told Betty on the phone and forty eleven others heard it where they were eavesdropping. Now everyone knew about the rights and wrongs. Now Facebook lights up as the rights and wrongs committed by our neighbors or friends or politicians are spread across the Internet. All it is is gossip. It might have a hint of truth but that's about the limit. Just enough truth to appear true. Half truths are half lies and both are wrong.

Kind of like the horse trader who said the horse he was trying to sell was kid broke. It was true. The horse was kid broke 95% of the time, but when that other 5% rolled around he was almost impossible to ride. Right but really wrong. Seems like every summer some beautiful half-pound red tomatoes show up at a farmers market and are described as home grown. Sounds appealing to say the least. In some cases it's true, but in others it's wrong. All looks good but tastes terrible. It's wrong. Baseballs and softballs masquerading as tomatoes.

All of us have been and are and will be right and wrong. All of us. Let's extend maybe a little more understanding and forgiveness. Maybe forget the infraction instead of letting it fester. Maybe do a right in return for a wrong. Maybe instead of gossiping look them in the eye and work it out or just forget it. Most things aren't worth making a stink about.