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A MILLION YEARS AGO, before the internet and before YouTube, I came across the late-night comedian/magician The Amazing Johnathan.
As part of his routine, he tears up an audience member’s twenty-dollar bill and tries to magic it back together while hiding it under a handkerchief. The magic isn’t going well, and Johnathan is frantically checking on his hidden work. Then you hear the tearing of tape under the handkerchief and realize he is trying to tape the bill back together. To audience laugher, he looks up and says, “Sometimes magic sounds like tape.” That phrase has always stuck with me as a purely true statement.
This phrase, in my opinion, is universally true. “Sometimes magic sounds like tape.” Life is a work in progress. Humanity is a work in progress. We, as individuals, are a work in progress.
This phrase is liberating because it absolves us of the pressure of being perfect at birth, while requiring us to always repair our mistakes and work to learn and improve ourselves.
The phrase is also powerful because it requires us to appreciate this truth in others as well, and to judge them, not only by their past deeds but also by their current desire to become better.
Be kind and forgiving of others, and to past versions of yourself.
Kolby Granville – Editor
