This is intended to be a submission for the June 2025 IndieWeb Carnival on the theme "Take Two", written at IndieWeb Club Bangalore.
<introduce the pencil and eraser as complements, how they're presented to kids and how I picked up on it as a kid>
Eventually I did learn to (or I was taught to) erase better, without leaving smudge marks, or damaging the paper – to do a second take elegantly.
I was allowed to wield a pen (fountain first, ball point later) much later (at least that's how it worked in schools I've been to). Pens aren't great at second takes – a scratched out word features more prominently on the paper than erased pencil marks (enter whiteners).
Soon I learnt how to use scratches as a tool too, particularly in written exams, to introduce ambiguity and pretend that I knew more than I ended up putting on the paper. I'm not endorsing this trick, for it is a trick.
Different mediums are differently amenable to a Take Two, or The Undo: to edit over and over.
Crayons can't be erased, just like pens, but if you spend a bit, you can buy special erasable crayons. Watercolors allow some degree of diluting and over-painting. With oil paints, you need to wait for a few hours before you can do a second take. MS Paint supplies instant infinite undo, and that is a big part of the MS paint experience.
While talking, you can clarify and say a sorry, but the "edit" becomes part of the conversation itself. Sometimes throwing in an edit with intent can be useful too, just like pen scratches can be.