Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Perfection and Reality


brown dried leaves on sand



I don't know where many young people get the idea that they and the world are supposed to be perfect but that is a cause of paralysis in the first case and delusion in the second.

Let's start with the first. Being reasonably good in most jobs will put you close to super-star status. Do you think Babe Ruth or Ted Williams always hit home runs? Is every play by Shakespeare great? Are the works of Charles Dickens beyond editing?  Do you think [pick a famous author] is incapable of writing trash or that [pick a famous film director] couldn't make a bad movie?

Each noted achiever was willing to be ridiculed. While not wishing to fail, each also knew that repeated failure is the toll-booth on the path to success. They worked hard and sought to slant the odds in their favor but they also were well aware that not one of us functions in a well-ordered environment.

To expect the world to be fair, just, and generous is to ask for a stomach-punch. The world is the world: cruel, kind, unfair, generous, beautiful, ugly, indifferent, exciting, and often, beneath a veneer of civilization, savage as hell.

We are imperfect people functioning in imperfect systems within an imperfect world.

Recognizing that should not be discouraging or depressing. 

Instead, that strong grasp of reality should inspire, discipline, and liberate our lives.

Go on. Get out among 'em.


[Photo by sydney Rae at Unsplash]

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