Perfection is a goal that can never be attained, but we all strive to attain it, producing great works of art, great scientific innovations, and perhaps, a great life lived. Yet, is it worth striving for if it makes us unhappy?
The issues surrounding our pursuit of perfection, in whatever area of life or work, is twofold. The first is the very nature of the fruit we pursue - a narrow window where only certain traits are considered gifts by society. The second is the dependence on constancy of the pursuit, where we assume an unchanging path towards success, and any deviations from it as failure, or imperfections in the process.
The First issue: A Small Scope
Society has a very narrow view of perfection, where physical beauty, mental agility, and success are defined by variations surrounding how skinny you are, how fast you think, or how much money you have. All things that do not matter when we are cremated to ashes or six feet under. It is quite common to sustain such a myopic view of perfection that we lose sight of we started with- our god given traits, which really are all gifts based on circumstance.
Look at that squirrel running up the tree next to you. Scurrying about, looking for the acorns it hid. If only it remembered better where it hid those damn acorns. It would get its food faster! No time wasted and everyone is happy, especially the squirrel and its buddies. Yet, if that squirrel in the fall burying acorns had a 100% memory
of all the nuts it had hidden, how many fewer oak trees would we have in later spring seasons?
Just as we would imagine "improving" the imperfect memory of the squirrel, we are surrounded by flyers, radio and t.v. announcements that all proclaim a perfect pill for solving our inadequacies. We get hyper conscious, worry that we have become squirrels, running around looking for the acorns that we are made to believe we need all of, and, As Soon As Possible. For those who say, "Screw ASAP," I bet you are much, much happier than those that spend their lives in such a rat race. So what if you don't collect all your "acorns" right away? So what if you forget a few of them here and there? Maybe that path is just as valid as one of maximum efficiency.
Not suggesting that we all become Thoreau (or Emerson), and live a life of transcendentalism, but why be so harsh on traits and situations that are outside our view of perfect? What if we went through life, looking at the flip side of our imperfect traits and imperfect moments now and then? What if celebrated that we could forget, that we can be slow, become poor, become depressed and still consider ourselves valuable? That we may one day, as mortals, become dirt in a temperate oak forest, providing nutrients to germinating acorns that some squirrel forgot long ago? Maybe it's that same squirrel you've been staring at, while feeling guilty for not working on the weekends.
The Second Issue: A Stagnant Pursuit
It's not too hard to imagine that we get used to thinking about a standardized set of characteristics as undesirable, we are wired to be compliant to our fellow human beings. The greater problem comes up when we assume that they are ALWAYS undesirable Maybe your imperfections can become valuable in the right circumstance. A pursuit for perfection, whatever it may mean to you, would be a much happier process if the word SOMETIMES was taken seriously. It is not ALWAYS great if you are getting results in lab, because that would just keep raising the bar and create a standard that would consume all of your other activities in life. It is SOMETIMES perfect if you walked home slower, you may meet someone who needs your help, or will give you a winning lottery ticket (a look into what I think about while walking home:).
An example of looking at the flipside mentioned earlier: the variance in speed of speech in cities vs. rural areas. If someone speaks quite slowly, it is often viewed by those who are from a busier lifestyle that the person thinks slower. The problem arises when slow is assumed to equal stupid. Why do we make that jump? Did the slow southern drawl gain a stigma of incompetence only after the civil war? Can we blame the industrial revolution for pushing us into an era of equating faster with better? There is no requirement for accuracy in speed. Yes, the game right now is to make machines fast and accurate, but why do we place this need on humans as well? If we become dehumanized into machines, then really, we can envision a future of gained productivity and lost creativity. The slower speech pattern may be indicative of a more holistic, non-linear thought process, one where the contents of a speech bubble are carefully analyzed before being released into the air. The slower thought or speech process carries contemplation that seems to come only with age, these days. I now take to rolling around my tongue each word twice or more, going on a mosey to provide a valuable perspective in a fast conversation that is already rushing to its next destination.
So speak slower. Take your time. Summer is here. Markers for success are ephemeral illusions that we have bought into, forgetting life's real value. God bless the squirrel for all its imperfections. God bless all of our "faults" too, despite the negative connotations we assign them.
Note: This piece, despite my best efforts, is not perfect. Please feel free to partake in my own pursuit for perfection by leaving your comments- I will incorporate any inspiration they provide into my next piece. Thanks!
