Somewhere in there, a serious
communication went out, that changed the conversation. A forecast of
"freezing rain or ice pellets" was translated (by a computer) to
"freezing rain or ice cream."
Needless to say, the comments began.
Had we left the mainland to become a dessert island? Were we in for a Rocky
Road? Would our ice cream Sunday resort to soft serve if the temperatures rose?
There were even some fast food comments on (Mc)Flurries and (DQ) Blizzards.
There were some really creative
comments from folks - everyone seemed to behaving a good time about it (even
the agency that had posted the original got in on the fun!). We all knew it was
a translation error, had a laugh, and carried on our way. (After sharing it
several times, of course.)
The "rate this
translation" feature obviously received some lower-then-normal scores (and
the posting agency had quickly amended the post). One word changed the whole
tone and message of a paragraph-long communiqué.
In life, sometimes our translation
comes out wrong. We misread a situation, we misunderstand a comment or context.
And while it's not always as amusing as ice cream streaming from the sky, with
a little bit of grace and patience we can sort out the intended meaning. We can
ask for clarification from the source, we can ask a person what they meant, we
can presume that autocorrect is (incorrectly) involved.
If we're willing to do this, we can
avoid lots of potential confusion and conflict; but we have to be willing to do
it.
Maybe our challenge for this week is
to look at the world with the same forgiveness that we use for weather
forecasts: allowing space for correction as needed, presuming any error was
unintentional, and embracing humour as it can creep in. Not all of our
messaging is going to be perfect: how we respond to those oops moments will
show the world how we will respond to them. (Ideally: with love. And ice
cream.)
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