A Tragic Mistake

It seems as though something tragic has happened to human kind. We have found a way to let our circumstances define who we are.

You see it everywhere. In a world full of individuals, all we are is a career, or a mistake, or a relationship status.

I'm guilty of letting the fact that I'm single play into decisions I make when the fact that I'm single shouldn't actually belong in that conversation.

I look at homeless people. To label a man by his lack of housing, is horrible. It's even more ridiculous when he knows that's what he is. I was told tonight, there are no second chances. You have one shot to make it in the world.

I couldn't figure out how to tell a man without hope that he was wrong. You see, he's accepted the fact that he'll probably die on the streets. I know that sounds insensitive, but I've seen hopeless eyes enough to know how he feels. The problem is, he is homeless by his circumstance, not by identity, yet he's let his identity become about him not having a roof to sleep under.

It's seen everywhere. How many of us have had our hearts set on a career?


"So What do you do?"


"Oh, I'm a lawyer."


"Oh, I'm a singer."


"Oh, I'm a writer."

The truth of the matter is, this is only a part of who you are. You are so much more than a career. I've heard baseball players talk about nothing but their pitching form, writers speaking nothing but their style, and students who only study and for what?

If all I did was write, if all I did was think about writing, what good would I be?

We live in such a diverse world with opportunity at every corner, and so many people miss out on life because of who they've let themselves become.

Have you ever made a mistake, big or small, and it consumed everything about you?

For weeks and months all you could think about was that one mistake, and because of this it effected everything from your relationships to your soul. Your mistake owned you and it took control of your actions, thoughts, and dreams.

Most of the time, our identity is lost in moments like these and it's hard to pull out of. The trick is to own your mistake. It's not that what you did was right, it's a mistake for a reason, but you're going to keep making the same mistake over and over again, until you move past it. The only way to move on at times, is to let go of things.

In the end, you have to take a moment and ask yourself the question, who am I?

Where does my identity lie and how can I reclaim it if it's lost?


To be truthful, I can't answer this question for myself, let alone anyone else. I know that, we can search together and hopefully in that manner we'll find the right answers, but until then all I can do is offer my prayer and help along the way.

As I've said in the past, let's try to do this together. Life was not meant to be done alone.

-Christopher 'Fatboy' Peters