Al-Madina

AS humans, it is natural for us to commit some mistakes. However, there are small mistakes we can accept and there are some serious mistakes we cannot be silent about. In fact, these serious mistakes should be immediately dealt with whether by punishing the doers or instantly correcting the mistake. After all, committing a mistake is not the end of the road or treating it as a failure. This actually means the existence of some error that needs to be fixed and learned from. Only this way, we will get better which is by learning from our own mistakes.

Some people deny their mistakes, argue and get violent about them. They might even attack the people who are trying to fix their mistakes or giving them a piece of advice. According to them, this way they will be able to make their mistakes disappear. By doing so, they are actually committing two wrongs: Their actual mistake and then not owning it. We also have the other kind of people who do not learn from their mistakes. So they end up committing mistakes over and over as well as moving from one failure to the next one. So at the end, they find themselves desperate because they did not choose to learn from their mistakes. The last kind of people are the ones who truly admit their own mistakes, apologize, and try all over again from the beginning to achieve their goals.

Recently, a serious typing error was found in a textbook of social studies showing the fictional character Yoda sitting next to our beloved late King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz (may Allah have mercy on him). According to the media, the picture is an artistic work for one of the artists and it was printed by a mistake. There were also many other mistakes found which made the people in social media angry and demanding the resignation of the minister of education and punishing the responsible people.

The ministry by itself admitted its mistake and publicly apologized. The minister of education also terminated some editors and reviewers responsible for the mistake. He also issued a contract with a special company to develop educational textbooks and their content.

This is an immediate reaction by the minister to fix this serious mistake and ensure it is never repeated again. Only time will tell whether the problem is fixed or not. If this problem gets repeated again then it means we need to seriously look deep into the problem, find the reasons and fix it from its roots.