The International Writers Magazine: Lifestyles

Typo Confession •Julie McSmith Father, I am sorry for I have sinned.  In particular, I am sorry for having made certain typos and mistaken contractual stipulations.

For example, last week I took a weekend trip when my job contract stipulated that employees must not leave the vicinity of the university the week before the start of classes.  It was only one day, though!  Then last Sunday I left again, the day before classes started.  I wanted to go to church, and maybe that would have been forgiven, but then I saw a friend in the afternoon.  In addition, I am sorry for the typo on the syllabus that I wrote for my class sections this semester.  I did not see it until Wednesday.

Yet, perhaps God has already seen ways to punish me for these mistakes.  I got the flu when I was out of town on my trip and then I was sick all week.  Then the entire day that I was out of town last Sunday I had a sudden terrible ache in my foot unlike anything I had ever experienced.  Now I have had a sore throat this entire week while I’ve been distributing the syllabi with the typo.  I mean, sure, it was something important, like the number of hours the class would meet each week, but couldn’t my penance have been something else?  I mean, it’s hard to teach the students with a hoarse voice.

Father, I am sorry for these typos and reading mistakes.  Last semester, too, when I gave the midterm test I handwrote and photocopied the listening part of the mid-term exam instead of typing it.  My punishment then was to have a sudden case of laryngitis just as I got to class that day, but it went away after class was finished.  What other penance do you have for me for my typos?  Could not some other penance be assigned for my future typos?  Can you not ask God to help me read clearer and not let Satan interfere in my typos and reading?

© JMS March 2015
Currently I work as an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea.

Dear A.R.
Julie McSmith
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