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Learn from your mistakes

It was a beautiful summer morning. Sun was

going to rise and the time was just right to

everybody to fill-in enough fresh breeze forthe day. Giri, Manvi and Raavi were walking

around in a garden near their house in

Eastern Africa. Manvi and Raavi were the

daughters of a business man whod moved

to South Africa for business. Raavi was

younger than Manvi. Giri was their good

friend. They enjoyed going for morning

walks with their parents.

As the parents were busy talking, children

started looking around the park. Manvi wasbusy collecting some flowers for her

scrapbook. Raavi and Giri followed a

beautiful butterfly. Soon Raavi saw a Zebra

and Giri spotted some beautiful birds flying

over his head. Raavi had a brainwave; she

recalled Shanti Auntys admirable saree,

shed seen some days back. Raavi liked her saree very much. On seeing the Zebra,

Raavi understood that the saree designer might have drawn the inspiration for the

saree from Zebra itself. Giris imaginative mind was also thinking about his favourite

vehicle of transportation. On carefully observing the birds his brain suggested to

him that Wright Brothers might have made the first aero plane with the help of

careful observation of birds only.

While they were thinking all this, Raavis mother came looking for Raavi and Giri.

They expressed their thoughts to Raavis mother. She told them more about nature

and also that they should respect and treat nature as a teacher. Next day Raavi

brought her drawing book with her for the walk. She wanted to sketch a Zebra in

her drawing book. She was lucky to find a Zebra. She could soon finish the sketch.

She was so happy to draw and as her parents saw it, they praised Raavi for her

good effort. She started taking her sketch book with her every day. It was a new

challenge for her every day, to see, understand and copy nature into her drawingbook. She improved with every sketch. More and more people came to know about

her talent. With more appreciation she felt happier and tried to devote more time

towards sketching.

One day, she saw a beautiful butterfly and decided to sketch it. She tried to

concentrate but the butterfly was not ready to sit on one flower. By now, strong

willed Raavi was habituate of sketching whatever shed decided to sketch. She tried

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but could not draw the butterfly exactly. Next day again she decided to draw

another butterfly but again the butterfly wouldnt sit stationary for long. This time

she decided to catch the butterfly in her net and hold it in a jar.

As the butterfly was in the jar, she could focus, see clearly and draw it exactly,

without running after the butterfly. But, eventually the butterfly died inside the jar.Raavi felt the slight pinch of conscience but she ignored it. She reasoned it out to

herself that she had no choice, she had to catch the butterfly in the jar as she had

to draw the butterfly. Gradually, she moved on to other insects. She sketched

exactly as she saw. It was interesting and adventurous. Ladybug had vibrant

colours, grasshopper was all green and cricket was difficult to draw but she enjoyed

it all. She was happy to make her collection, develop her talent and get some

appreciation. All this while, she knew that Giri and Manvi were her good critics. She

would make it a point to show them the sketches to get their reviews. While

spending time with them Raavi would share her story of exciting activity of catching

the insect. Manvi and Giri always gave her their true piece of mind about her art

work.

As she carried on catching, jarring insects one after the other, Manvi and Giri got

alarmed. They thought it was their duty to stop her from wrongdoing. Because

either the insects would get injured while she tried to catch them or they would be

dead by the time shed finish sketching. They wanted to make Raavi understand

that she could not kill, capture or hurt insects for any reason. Not for the sake of her

sketches also. Everybody should respect nature and try to give back as much love

as they can. Manvi and Giri thought about the problem and made a plan. Manvi

asked Giri to bring one of the eight puppies from nearby house where a bitch had

given birth to the young ones a week back.

Manvi and Giri rushed with the cute puppy to Raavi and requested her to make a

sketch of that puppy. The puppy was too small to be separated from his mother. The

puppy was very scared and was shivering. Manvi left the puppy with Raavi for

sketching and went away. As Raavi started to draw, she realized that the puppy was

almost crying wanting to go to his mother. She tried to ignore puppys reactions but

could not do it for long. Finally, the puppy came running to Raavi and sat near her

feet. As if he was pleading her to let him go to his mom. This shook Raavi and she

picked the puppy looking for Manvi.

Manvi and Giri were waiting outside expecting this situation to arrive. As soon as

they saw Raavi with the puppy they ran to her. Raavi requested Manvi to leave the

puppy back to the mother. At this Manvi agreed to leave the puppy back to the

mother. While Manvi was away Giri broke the ice and stared talking to Raavi about

the many insects shed caught in past to sketch. He made her realize how shed

injured the insects or killed them for satisfying her wishes. Raavi took some time off

her sketch book and began to introspect. Giri and Manvi did not force her to realize

and repent. Raavi soon realized her mistake.

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You can only learn from your mistakes after admitting them.Admission of a

mistake is the most important step. Even if the mistake is admitted privately, to

oneself it makes sense. It makes learning possible for the responsible person by

moving the focus away from blame games. It helps the guilty to move forward, shun

the guilt and work positively. It helps them in understanding and thinking ways of

improving themselves. Wise people admit their mistakes easily. Raavi thankedManvi and Giri for being true friends and helping her in time of need. Raavi turned

over to a new leaf; she started drawing realistic pictures from high definition video

recordings of animals on the computer.