有四名士兵被派去炸毀Armageddon大橋，前三名士兵皆履行職責，盡己之任，但第四位士兵出了點小差錯，炸藥未能正確引爆，大橋搖搖欲墜，卻沒有倒塌，這讓8000名美國士兵趁機橫過橋面，希特拉也因此打了敗仗。如果不是這個錯誤，歷史可能會改寫。

　　當汽車反方向行駛時，感應器便會作響。很多司機不理會警告，以自己的判斷駕駛，大多數情況下他們能正確判斷，但歌詩達協和號的船長因為判斷距離失準而發生意外。那次意外花了4億歐元把船殘骸撈出來，還未算上給喪失親人的家屬撫恤金、利潤、維修費等等。這麼大的意外就是因一個錯誤的決定引起。

　　18個月前，Mary因為John連續4次遲到而憤怒，John遲到少則15分鐘，多則45分鐘，Mary憤怒之下提分手，一段美好姻緣就此結束。

　　我非常熟悉中環的交通情況，中環堵車嚴重，要視乎那個時段，星期幾、天氣狀況如何，是不是賽馬日、萬聖夜、展覽期、示威日、維修封路、7人欖球賽、長假期等因素。在交通繁忙時，我要格外提高警覺，有時更要提早離開辦公室，因為適時出行可助我省回一至兩小時時間。我以前對交通情況不太熟悉，我更試過浪費了百多個小時甚至更多在堵車上，氣得我抓狂！多年來的堵車經驗，令我學會了以上的生活智慧。

　　話說回頭，其實John以前從未遲到，事發那一夜，他公司剛剛搬到九龍那邊，他雖然已經很努力尋找方法，盡量避免在繁忙時間不走堵車的道路，但他因不熟悉九龍，多次估計錯誤甚至完全迷路，才愈弄愈糟。如果Mary諒解這些的話，他們的關係不會那麼快結束。不幸的是，她沒有諒解John，向他大發脾氣，還希望John會哄她，John被她的臭脾氣嚇到，不知所措。

　　現在John已和另一女士結婚，幸福非常，而Mary至今仍單身，懊悔當年所做的事。雖然John遲到是不對，但她過分胡亂發脾氣，令John看到Mary醜陋的一面，Mary真是「損失慘重」。

　　如果你在考試中表現未如理想，難以要求老師給你明天再從考，工作面試或初次約會亦同是一樣。有些失誤可以帶來非常嚴重的後果，既是如此，何必當初？莫說「無所謂」，因事實上很「有所謂」，請慎重。

　　（按：中文內容乃翻譯及撮寫版本）

One Mistake

　　Four soldiers were sent to bomb the Armageddon bridge, the first three did their jobs properly but the fourth did not, the explosives were not wired correctly. As a result, the bridge was only damaged and weakened; it did not collapse right away, still allowing 8,000 American troops to cross before it finally collapsed. Subsequently, Hitler lost the battle. If it wasn’t for that one mistake, history would have looked quite different.

　　Many car sensors trigger a beeping sound when the vehicle goes into reverse. Many drivers choose to ignore the warning and manoeuver their vehicles according to personal judgment, mostly are correct, but the captain of the Costa Concordia had misjudged his distance. Not even counting compensations for the loss of lives, loss of revenues, repairs, etc. It costs 400 million Euros just to get the ship out of the water. Such is the magnitude of one mistake.

　　Eighteen months ago, Mary was furious with John because he was late for his date with her four times in a row, ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. She was irate, went absolutely ballistic, and that was the end of a beautiful relationship.

　　I personally know the traffic situation in Central very well. The severity of congestion often depends on the time of day, the day of the week, weather condition, whether it is a race night, Halloween night, exhibition week.. Whether there is a protest march, construction site, Rugby Seven, long weekend… etc. I need to be super vigilant and sometimes leave the office in a hurry, because a timely move could save me an hour or two. I wasn’t always so traffic smart, I have spent hundreds of hours getting stuck in incredible jams pulling my hair out, and it has taken me years of agonizing experience to learn what I know now.

　　John was never late before. At the time of that fateful evening, his office had only just relocated to Kowloon side and he was quite lost, still finding out the hard way where not to go, what not to do during peak traffic hours, a bit of understanding on her part could have gone a long way. Unfortunately, it was not to be. She threw such an appalling tantrum and expected him to run after her. He was so disillusioned by her horrific, foul temper he didn’t. Today, John is happily married to another lady, whilst Mary is still single and deeply regrets her own folly. He was wrong for being late, but her disproportionately horrendous reaction showed him an ugly side of her personality he had not seen before. It was a costly mistake on her part.

　　If you did not do well at your exam, you cannot re-do it the next day. Ditto for job interviews and likewise for first dates. Some mistakes carry consequences so grave it is best not to have made them in the first place. Please don’t say it doesn’t matter, because it does.