Mistakes

Something that stood out for me from recent letters to Dr. Laura:

I make mistakes A LOT, but repair them, learn from them, try my best not to repeat them, and move forward.

That's the best we can do as imperfect people. I think Dr. Laura has modeled that behavior for her audience.

Whenever she's in the news, you can always find comments after the stories from people who hate her. Usually, aside from political differences, their complaints are based on misunderstandings of what she has said or misquotes, or based on some past mistake for which she has repented. My wife gets a kick out people who say they hate Dr. Laura because she's judgmental, intolerant, and close minded – and if you ask them if they've listened to her show, they, being so open-minded and nonjudgmental in their hate for her, say no.

One of my "favorite" standard attacks on her is "she's a hypocrite". Yet, if you ask people to "explain how she is a hypocrite, keeping in mind that the word means someone who says one thing but currently believes something contrary", they don't know what to say. That's because they are used to using "hyprocite" a magical word that shuts down all moral or ethical discussion.

That Dr. Laura has made mistakes, as we all have, does not disqualify her from having an opinion or giving advice to those who call her seeking it. the truth is still true regardless of who says it. Making a mistake, and then learning from it, repairing it if possible, trying to avoid that mistake, and telling others they shouldn't make that mistake is not being a hypocrite. It's being loving and truthful.