I was a teen in the 1960s, the Flower Child, idealist MakeLoveNotWar era. Everyone in college had a guitar and could play three or four chords and sing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," etc. Then in the 1970s something happened and suddenly only entertainers could play and sing, and that required huge amounts of electricity and equipment. If you couldn't sing perfectly, well, you didn't sing any more.

Since then I have rarely found children singing in school, or even church congregations singing with the choir. How many children, let alone adults, get to play baseball, basketball or Frizzbie, make up stories or silly games, instead of just watching TV or video games? Music and many other joys of life have been relegated to the professionals these days, due in large part to the notion that we have to be perfect before we can do things. What happened to learning by doing?

I think idolizing the perfect is killing fun and narrowing our life experience. Let's change that! Here's the latest article from the Baha'i site at BellaOnline.com.

The Scourge of Perfection
Change, even for the better, is always scary. It won't happen until we abandon the notion that we can't try anything until we are sure to do it perfectly--the first time around!

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art182484.asp

Do visit bahai.bellaonline.com for more articles on ways to change the world through improved parenting, education, and tools for character building, plus links to the sacred texts of the Bahá'í Faith. You don't have to rely on only my understanding, when you can go straight to the source!

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I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback.

Cheryll Schuette, Baha'i Editor
http://bahai.bellaonline.com

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