The Crossed-out Word

I like notebooks that show some wear.

A page with a few crossed-out words feels more trustworthy than one that looks as though it was written by someone who never had a doubtful thought.

I have had plenty of doubtful thoughts.

Some of them were written down.

A crossed-out word is not a failure.

It is evidence that someone was paying attention.

At some point, the writer stopped, looked at the sentence, and realized the word did not fit. Maybe it was too harsh. Maybe it was too timid. Maybe it said almost what needed to be said, which can be more dangerous than being completely wrong.

So the writer drew a line through it and tried again.

The first word is still visible beneath the line. The page remembers both the mistake and the correction.