Everybody makes mistakes. It’s inevitable. Sometimes you oversleep, misread directions, or try to do too much. Most of these little mistakes can seem unimportant at first, but they could affect you dramatically in the long run. In the play, “Othello” by William Shakespeare, the villain, Iago, manipulates many people to commit little sins or mistakes to help him overthrow Othello. One of the people he manipulates is his wife, Emelia. He tells her that she should take Othello’s wife’s handkerchief. He has a plan that will make Othello’s right-hand man look bad. She decided to be loyal to her husband, and she took the handkerchief, saying, “I am glad I have found this napkin./This was her first remembrance from the Moor./My wayward husband hath a hundred times/Wooed me to steal it. But she so loves the token/(For he conjured her she should ever keep it)/That she reserves it evermore about her.” This small sin that she thought would have done nothing but possibly make Desdemona sad, ended up causing Othello to believe that his right hand man, Cassio, and Desdemona were having an affair. This will eventually cause Othello to have the desire to murder his wife and Cassio. 

Something else that can be a long term effect of many little sins can be pain. In the Circles of Hell, the first circle is the waiting room, the place where indecisive people go. These are the people that did nothing majorly bad or good in their life. Their punishment is that they have to be bitten by insects forever. This is why limiting small mistakes that don’t seem to matter is important. They can catch up to you. 

One real-world example that shows how small mistakes can end with big consequences is shown in the Ahmaud Arbery trial. There were two men that cornered and killed Ahmaud Arbery, and one man that followed them and filmed it. The man who filmed the shooting made a mistake that was definitely in the wrong, as he supported the crime, but was charged with murder when he did not actually commit that crime. If he had not been associated with those two men, he would not have gone to prison. There is also a chance that if he had just watched and not filmed it, he could have been charged with something different. 

Everybody makes mistakes, but everyone can control how many they make. One has to be careful with what they do, who they are with, and who they listen to. Those are the things that are controllable.