The Power(lessness) of Perfection

Let’s look at the word perfection. Here’s the The definition I found: “the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.”

Doesn’t that sound so…perfect? The problem is, it comes with a hefty price tag.

I was once at a parade. Not just any parade, but a ticker tape parade. Some local sports team had just won some big hoo-haw championship and everyone was congregating to watch the team motorcade go by. At one point some security guard came by to push the crowd back and everyone complied…but me. I just stood still and held my ground. As a result, I was now in the front and my timing was perfect! At just that moment, the king of the parade and star of the team was in the passing car. I reached out my hand and he touched it as he went by. I stood there frozen for a minute…until the man standing next to me stepped on my foot. That quickly brought me back to reality. And I saw the team king’s car keep driving and his hand met the outreached hands of thousands of other people. Too bad they didn’t have antibacterial cream back then. I probably could have used some!

That moment of standing still as the crowd pushed back around me reminds me of how I feel about this need to be perfect. It can sometimes seem that everyone around you is clamoring for perfection in one way or another – perfect houses, food, garden, friends, you name it! At the root of perfection is really comparison. How can something or someone be flawless unless there’s some comparison to something that is not so flawless? And it’s the comparison part of perfection that gets to be a dangerous game.

I read a post this week that instigated my thinking along these lines. First of all, it is one of the cutest blog names I’ve seen: Blah Blah Blahger. I stumbled upon Jen Johnson’s site because she has a post on failing. How great is that! Not only is she willing to forgo the brand of perfection, she’s willing to embrace failing! Of course, her definition of failing looks very ambitious. She’s a photographer, has a demanding career, remodels her home, runs a blog, and obviously organizes charity fund-raising events as well. Schwew! I’m worn out just thinking about it! When you’ve got this many balls in the air, sometimes you’re going to drop a few.

The trick according to Jen, is keeping at it. And that leads me to the problem with perfection. Perfection means free from flaws or defects. It seems to me that the only way to keep a house perfect is not to live in it. Likewise, the only way to keep a life perfect is not to live it. Like Jen says in her post, “I’d rather live this life than a perfect one, because in times of failure, we grow, learn, and stretch ourselves and promise that NEXT TIME, it will be BETTER!”

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