The Broom and Plate
Wisemen
written by Lane Hudson

Wisdom is often hidden in mistakes.   
   
      In 1983, I visited a small art gallery in Bennettsville, S.C.  
On entering, I saw a broom levitating 10 feet in the air over
the receptionist's desk - and her head - held in space and
place by silver wires.

      Unable to grasp, or appreciate, the message from the
artist, I asked the woman sitting under the broom about its
artistic significance.  

      "None whatsoever," she said. "The museum director
hung the broom up there last year after he tripped on it not
once, but three times, and the third time he broke his leg. He
said he wants the broom where he can watch it because the
broom can't be trusted."

      I’m glad my mistakes aren’t on public display.

      The first time I visited my father's Life of Virginia office
in downtown Rockingham, I saw a plate hanging on the wall.  
It was an ordinary white dinner plate that had been broken
and glued back together. Dad told me why the plate was
there: "It's a reminder that our reputation, and the reputation
of our company, is like that plate. Once your reputation is
damaged, you can glue it back together, but people still
always watch the crack," he said. "And if your reputation has
too many cracks, you are thrown away."

      I've thought a lot about that broom and that plate lately.  
Their lessons are still with me, long after classes, tests, and
workshops.