Flaws and Imperfections

I used to get really insecure about my flaws and imperfections. I think everyone does to an extent. Whether it was mental illness or not being good at something I wanted to be good at, my flaws often reinforced my feelings of inadequacy and "lesserness" to an often unrealistic degree.

     The fact remains that everyone has flaws and imperfections. All of us fall short of perfection by often dramatic measurements. In a physical realm governed by entropy, time,  and degradation, anything that breaks down or dies over time cannot be perfect. It's impossible. 

      The physical world wasn't designed to be perfect. It was designed to die. If it were perfect, time would be unnecessary, and so would growth, learning, and development.  That's the beauty of the system. Change, adaptation, growth, and evolution. Beauty, as we all know, doesn't have to be perfect, nor should it be.

      As far as human imperfection goes, we consider imperfections such as moral and ethical inconsistencies as more of character flaws and shortcomings. Everyone knows the physical can't be perfect, even if they don't realize it. 

       It's the character that matters in the eyes of the people. How we act, and what comes out of our mouth. I used to make the argument, "perfection is imperfection," when it came to the human character or just reality in general. Now I quite strongly disagree with my old rhetoric.

  It's an oxymoron. An irreconcilable paradox. It's not necessarily true. The truth is, perfection is restricted to perfect systems and things. Impertection governs only the imperfect.

   However, imperfection is not irredeemable, uncorrectable, and unforgivable. Unfortunately, many humans who are quite virtuous and righteous in their own eyes don't see it this way.

        In their efforts to cloak their own insecurities and flaws under the guise of being morally and ethically sound themselves they condemn without mercy and forgiveness the flaws and imperfections of those they deem as opponents or enemies or people who fall short of their standards that they themselves often fail to meet.

      This is the essence of hypocrisy. Not forgiving another or extending mercy on another when you yourself have the same or similar flaws or an even more deplorable imperfection. 

   

      I have learned that no matter how smart you are or how gifted you are or how kind and compassionate you are, much of humanity will look for condemnable traits to your nature and being and use them against you. Like predators, these unforgiving and unmerciful people will not see the redeemability of your flaws and imperfections and instead see them as inherent in your very being.

     This mentality furthers the antagonism and division between humanity and inhibits reconciliation and compromise between conflicting groups. If you cannot look past flaws and imperfections and others and find values and qualities of their character that are good and noble aside from their flaws and shortcomings, than loving someone can be quite difficult and peace between individuals and groups can never truly be achieved.

    If you condemn someone, or a group, for the rest of their lives for a correctable or redeemable flaw or imperfection, or a trait of their nature that they can't control and has no bearing on their character, skill-potential, or ability to be morally upright and good, than you are crippling compromise, reconciliation, and inhibiting unity and peace between yourself and these individuals/groups.

    The moral of this post is...nobody's perfect. Stop holding people to impossibly high standards that you yourself often fail abysmally at meeting and start working towards building bridges instead of burning them.