Have you ever had one of those moments when you just feel like tossing your hands into the air and saying &uot;I give up!&uot;?

It’s the sudden realization of just how stupid one human being (namely yourself) can be.

My Dad used to call them &uot;humbling moments.&uot;

Regardless of what you call them, they happen to most of us constantly.

As a teenager, I was always mortified when I did something stupid in public.

But as I grow older, I’m realizing two things about &uot;humbling moments.&uot;

1). They happen constantly to everyone. Like the proverbial &uot;death and taxes&uot; it’s difficult – if not impossible – to avoid them.

2). Since they are inevitable, God must have a purpose for making us endure them. Right? So each humbling moment must have a life lesson somewhere at its heart.

Sometimes, however, discovering exactly what the lesson is can be difficult. Often a little time is necessary.

Such was the case with my last &uot;big&uot; humbling moment.

Normally humbling moments happen when you do or say something stupid – such as blurting out a curse word in front of a minister or something similar. My latest happened with one simple key stroke.

Let me explain.

One of the computer systems I use working here at The Democrat uses an operating system called UNIX.

Basically it’s a program that runs a computer. It serves the same purpose as Windows 95, Mac OS and DOS perform – only it’s like dynamite in the hands of a novice such as myself.

In UNIX, each file on the computer is &uot;owned&uot; by someone. The ownership privileges are critical because if they get out of whack, the computer may not be able to turn itself on.

While working on fixing a problem with ownership privileges, I accidentally put a space – one space&160;- into the wrong place in a command and poof. I’d instantly reset the ownership privileges on every file on the computer – that’s thousands of files.

It would be the equivalent of snapping one’s fingers and changing the lock on every house in Natchez.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, unlike many newer operating systems, UNIX doesn’t have an &uot;undo&uot; button.

By hitting the &uot;enter&uot; key I’d created hours and hours of problems.

With the help of a wise and insomniac UNIX expert, the problems were eventually fixed.

His advice to me: &uot;Always, always read what you’ve typed before you hit ‘enter.’&uot;

The words ring through my ears every time I touch a computer now.

But a few weeks after what I call &uot;the incident,&uot; I think the lesson applies not only to computers and keyboards, but to people and mouths.

I can’t recall how many times I’ve let something fly across my lips without really thinking (and reading) what the words would mean to ears receiving them.

And just like in computer commands, life has no &uot;undo&uot; button.

Kevin Cooper is managing editor of The Democrat. He can be reached at (601)-445-3541 or by e-mail at kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.