One Sunday as normal, I stayed at school instead of going back home. I took the time to sort out my lessons. Time flew, and soon it was time for lunch. My friend Betty and I were ready to eat out. At a restaurant across the street from the campus, each of us ordered a pork dish called yuxiangrousi. The name literally means pork shreds that taste like fish. After the orders were placed, we sat down at a table and waited.

After a while, our meals were served. Taking up the chopsticks, we tucked into the dish. Betty and I ate and chatted. We did not feel anything unusual.

Halfway into the meal, we found a cook coming hastily into the hall. He asked around which customers had ordered yuxiangrousi.

Exchanging glances, Betty and I felt weird, wondering what might have gone awry. We replied to the cook that we had.

The cook came over and apologised, “I’m terribly sorry, girls, but I forgot to put meat in your dishes. I will serve you each two eggs and some ham to make up. Is that OK?

“No problem,” Betty and I answered almost in unison. “Thank you!”

Then we burst out laughing. A good look at the dishes in front of us, and we saw only carrot and some other vegetables in them. That was too funny.

No one is born perfect. We are not immune to mistakes. To err is human. Forgiving others is forgiving ourselves. When a meal you ordered on the phone comes in late, do not complain so much about the courier. He might have gone through a lot on the road. One day when you blunder, what goes round will eventually come round.