Learning Is Not Possible Without Mistakes: Being Wrong

No one likes to be wrong. Mistakes are not our goal. However, without mistakes, without being wrong, we don’t grow. Learning is a messy business and mistakes are a critical part of the process.

I was introduced to this video though a magnificent blog post by a teacher from Colorado. She uses this video after the election as a way to open students to the process of disagreeing, listening, and being open to change.

Take a look:

Fox Renews Surprise Hit Trumpfoolery for Second Season

Fox Network announced early on Wednesday that they are renewing the surprisingly popular sitcom Trumpfoolery for a second season.

The show features a hapless billionaire and reality TV star who accidently wanders onto the set of a presidential debate and suddenly finds himself a primary candidate and hilarity ensues.

Throughout the first season, candidate Donald's misadventures included mistaking a KKK leader for a respected public figure, getting in an online argument with a beauty queen, being accused of sexual misconduct, problems with taxes, and insulting just about every person he met. The season ended with our hero having second thoughts and trying to sabotage his own campaign only to find that he appealed to the voting public even more than his highly qualified opponent. In a shocking and side-splitting finale, our poor rich blunderer is swept into office!

The second season will feature such antics as getting lost in Washington DC, a son bringing home a new girlfriend who turns out to be a Russian agent, nominating an old friend for the Supreme Court who turns out to be very different than expected, taking away millions of people’s healthcare, and nearly starting a nuclear war! We’ll get a visit from a wacky gay cousin and meet a secret neighbor we see only over the top of a wall. The season will build to an outrageous and uproarious finale as Donald fires everyone and tries to navigate the presidency on his own! The producers of the show say the second season will even be produced without a laugh track.

Rumor has it that Fox is trying to contract for seasons three and four but there are some legal obstacles in the way.

Two Voting Visions from Rabbi Wine

Today, I took my Kol Hadash Confirmation Class to the Unitarian church as part of our study of comparative religion. The service focused on voting our values. The similarities and connections between their principles and those of Humanistic Judaism became highly apparent when a reading was a quotation from one of the founders of Humanistic Judaism, Rabbi Sherwin Wine.

The selection from Rabbi Wine, although spoken at an Independence Day celebration in 1985, is as relevant and powerful before the election of 2016 as it was in the early years of the Regan presidency:

“There are two visions of America. One precedes our founding fathers and finds its roots in the harshness of our puritan past. It is very suspicious of freedom, uncomfortable with diversity, hostile to science, unfriendly to reason, contemptuous of personal autonomy. It sees America as a religious nation. It views patriotism as allegiance to God. It secretly adores coercion and conformity. Despite our constitution, despite the legacy of the Enlightenment, it appeals to millions of Americans and threatens our freedom.

The other vision finds its roots in the spirit of our founding revolution and in the leaders of this nation who embraced the age of reason. It loves freedom, encourages diversity, embraces science and affirms the dignity and rights of every individual. It sees America as a moral nation, neither completely religious nor completely secular. It defines patriotism as love of country and of the people who make it strong. It defends all citizens against unjust coercion and irrational conformity.

This second vision is our vision. It is the vision of a free society. We must be bold enough to proclaim it and strong enough to defend it against all its enemies.”

As vote on Tuesday, and consider our choices on the ballot, it is imperative that we keep the two visions that Rabbi Wine described in mind. Are we truly voting our values and vision? Are we voting out of fear? Are we voting for hope or hate? Are we voting for the reason, freedom, diversity, science, and dignity?