Perfectly Flawed

I don’t need perfect. I don’t even  like perfect. Perfection scares me because I know that if one experiences or witnesses perfection, its sustainability is improbable at best and more likely impossible…. If it even existed in the first place. Sure we all use the word pretty freely to describe some incredibly favorable and positive … “thing”, but unless we are talking about something that  can be mathematically or  scientifically quantified or qualified,  then we are subjectively measuring that which is arbitrarily subjective and “measured” differently by each and every one of us.

So while I am the first one to recognize and appreciate something that one might categorize as “perfect”, I am also quick to shoot holes in it and prepare myself for that descent down the other side of the mountain after the (real or perceived) peak has been achieved. That’s not a pessimists view, it’s a realists view. Of course we can talk about the perfection of some divine being , state or event but that brings into play an element of belief, spiritual or otherwise ,which itself is quite subjective and interpretive. And in that vein you could  argue that perfection just IS or just HAPPENS as part of some natural course of action or plan. 

And after all aren’t  we are all just imperfect beings living in an imperfect world making  the notion of perfection null anyway? 

I will take imperfection any day over even a veiled illusion of perfection. I love the imperfect. I can play rough with it. Take chances with it. I can’t break imperfection. It’s already broken. Imperfection is an acknowledged flaw that for me implies  resiliency and adaptability.  It speaks of a weakness that needed to be compensated for in an effort to overcome. It implies true strength. It implies acceptance of what is and a diligent drive for what could be. It implies survivorship. It  translates to an opportunity  to make imperfection a little less imperfect…. while always remaining imperfect.

I see imperfect people as fighters built of character who rise above. I’m not sure if this opinion was born out of my own leukemia diagnosis and my many relationships with cancer survivors and their families, or if it is just a product of the wisdom and perspective one acquires with “maturity” (whatever that means). Recently I have been fortunate to witness so many stories of triumph rising out of less than optimal situations with HOPE and perseverance being keys to success. And often times the common denominator through them all is choice. It all comes down to a choice that is within our control. We are imperfect – that’s a given. We are flawed – fact. We can’t change that. What we can change is how we handle our imperfections. Do we look for way to adapt and change  that which is in our control while accepting that which is not. Or do we stand in silence feeling paralyzed about things we seemingly cannot do?  

We have choices. We have control.