We tend to be ashamed of the mistakes that we make; they are seen as a big taboo, something we should never, ever do, especially not in school. Just thinking about the red pen marks all over my paper was incentive enough for me to study hard.

Although it did help me to learn to strive for excellence, I think that it also created in my a fear of failure, something many of us have almost ingrained in us. That is, until about 8 years ago, when the Montreal Baha’i Community realised, in a profound way, that we should celebrate mistakes as a great way to learn about community building.

At the base of community building is an action-oriented educational process. I personally have been working for the last 8 years with junior youth – those aged between around 12 and 15, and I have seen what giving them the space to learn, celebrating mistakes as a significant contribution to learning and listening to them does.

Which is why the TED talk by Diana Laufenberg really resonated with me. I realize that, as a much more experienced person, she is much more eloquent in explaining this, which she does here. I personally found this not only inspiring, but a great learning tool to myself express such ideas in a far more eloquent way. Thank you, Diana!