The Screw Ups Are The True Experts

Over the decades I have seen and heard people citing "the experts" for thousands of situations, thousands of reasons.

And while I don't disagree that if you want to learn art, go to someone who's an expert artist. No argument.

But

Being an expert doesn't mean you are always a good source

There are millions of people who are expert level of skill or knowledge on something and are the worst people in the world to seek out.

Why?

Because people have opinions, people have bias, people have blind allegiance to political parties, people have skeletons in their closet that force them to act or say certain ways.

And people can be greedy. People will lie and deceive to keep their social position, their funding, their revenue, their market share, and so on.

But the cautionary tale for blindly valuing and seeking the experts isn't the point here. Instead it's what we are missing by seeking the experts so strictly.

We often forget to seek the reformed screw ups when we need knowledge, lessons learned, advice, understanding, guidance, and such. Worse yet we often ostracize the screw ups without stopping to think, without stopping to ask "did they stop screwing up and learn from their mistakes?"

Caution is wise. Yes. If someone screwed up, they screwed up! They did something wrong. They messed something up. They sinned. Whatever. So be cautious.

But while people who mess up are not the know alls of that space. They are the ones who can tell you what NOT to do, if they have made the mistakes and learned from them.

People who have screwed up are:

• The ones who have learned from their mistakes
• The ones who have walked out of darkness
• The ones who have journeyed far, in order to repent and turn from their mistakes

Would you not gain wisdom from someone who has successfully repented?