POSSIBILITY FOR FAILURE OR CRITICISM

WHAT a nerve-racking task it must have been in compiling the first-ever dictionary of the English language.

Someone was always going to say, “You missed out -“, or “It doesn’t mean that!”

Indeed, that first dictionary was reworked many times.

With that possibility for failure or criticism in mind, Samuel Johnson might easily have decided not to attempt his great work.

Instead, he wrote in the preface the following: “When it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed.”

Criticism is important, but when we criticise let’s not attach too much importance to the mistakes.

Always remember what was intended and the courage it took to stand up and try.

A BUDDING ADVANCE

RICHARD JEFFERIES, the son of a Wiltshire farmer, ran away from home twice in search of adventure.

First, he aimed for Paris, then America, but he ended up back on the home farm both times.

He began scribbling and made a name for himself as a nature writer.

Indeed, his communion with the natural world was regarded by some as mystical, which suggests that he must have paid closer attention to its wonders than most of us do.

Writing of woods in Sussex in January 1884, he said, “The lost leaves measure our years; they are gone as the days are gone, and the bare branches silently speak of a new year, slowly advancing its buds, its foliage, and fruit.”

The year 1884 seems such a long time ago, but not much will have changed in the woods, and our lives still have their seasons. The supposedly empty times are not forsaken; they are necessary in as much as they clear the way for the new.

In whichever way you need it the most, the beginning of a new year is always full of new buds, foliage and fruit.