"Employees must wash hands before returning to work."

We've all seen these words--this sign. They're in nearly every public bathroom, located in restaurants, grocery stores, even banks. When I was younger, I felt slightly confused when I saw these signs. I thought to myself, "Employees who work here must be older than I am. Therefore, they must be adults. At the very least, they must be teenagers. And teenagers are so old. This means that they have their lives together. They don't need to be reminded to wash their hands. Adults know everything and always do responsible things."

As a teenager, I know that I sure don't have my life together. I constantly forget things, make mistakes, and avoid the responsibilities and confrontations that I fear.

In my mind, I had a picture of adulthood. Perfect human beings leading almost-perfect lives (or striving to lead perfect lives). They were role models, they were leaders, they were wise. I thought adults were always right--they were too smart to be wrong. If I didn't know something, I could always turn to the adults in my life to get advice and guidance. Adults seemed to be superhuman human beings.

I thought adults always felt in control. They were calm and composed. Nothing could ever faze them. A minimum of 18 years of life experience was required to enter this stage of peace; once it was there, it was there forever.

But, as Oscar Wilde once wrote, "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes."

It took me over 16 years to realize the simple truth: no one, not even adults, can have every aspect of their life together. Life is messy, life has its ups and downs, and life will never be predictable. I am not saying that we shouldn't look up to adults and see role models in them--I have been blessed with a great number of adults in my life to whom I can look for assistance and a good example. Some of the best adults in my life, the ones I thought were genuine and pure, have completely lost my trust and slowly regained it. These adults know the different between right and wrong, and sometimes they don't have the right reason to do the wrong thing.

But even these adults are human.

Even these adults make mistakes.

Sometimes, even these adults don't own up to their mistakes.

And that's okay.

We, as a human race, will never be perfect.... And that's the beauty of life. Even with the interminable number of mistakes that we've collectively made over the course of history, we've learned how to--for lack of a better term--"bounce back." Sure, we may not learn our lessons the first time around, or the second time around, or even the twelfth time around. But as the cliche goes, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." Experience might not make us any less likely to make the same mistakes over and over again, but it nonetheless helps as grow as people.

Today I know that the hand-washing reminders in public bathrooms are there for a reason. For the teenage and adult employees, caught in their own busy lives, these signs are a little tap on the shoulder. "Hey, I know life gets crazy. Wash your hands. It's good for you, and for others. We're all in this together."