Mistakes Happen - So What? - Episode 33

This short episode is based on a recording of a talk by dance teacher Melanie Ellis, who spoke to our students during our morning assembly, Opening Ceremony at Benjamin Franklin High School.

Ellis draws on an anecdote culled from from construction, from the book, "⁠The Anatomy of Peace⁠," to explore what it means to gain wisdom through mistakes. The idea of having 'to justify' something has two dimensions. The first, which comes from construction, is about making something right. To justify or fix a wall, that is crooked. The second, is what we sometimes resort to when we wiggle out of a problem - using a justification not in keeping with our character. This point nicely dovetailed with the quote of the week, from Marcel Proust, "We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us."