Imperfection

There would be no music if high C were the only note,
no art if spectrum red were the only color,
no joy in pleasure if pleasure were the only feeling -- and paradoxically,
there would be no perfection without imperfection.
What does this mean to me?
Well, first it means that I don't have to be perfect.
All I have to do is grow at a pace natural to me --
and that is all I have a right to expect of others.
~ The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1], pp.60-61

Failure Is The Norm

Baseball teaches us, or has taught most of us, 

how to deal with failure.

We learn at a very young age that 

failure is the norm in baseball 

and ... errors [are] part of the game, 

part of its rigorous truth.

Francis T. Vincent, Jr.

Of course we will make mistakes.

We are born with the right to make mistakes.

There is no shame in that.

Perfection is a false ideal for a real human being.

We learn by trial and error.

If we try to be perfect, we will meet dead ends and roadblocks because we will inevitably fall short.

 

Instead, there is wisdom in the motto, "Keep coming back."

In this instance, the motto refers to returning to our standards.

Rather than to strive constantly for higher and higher perfection, our goal is to always return to the rules we live by.

Of course we will veer off the path.

When we do, we make repairs, pay our dues, and hold our place as full-fledged members of the human race.

 

Today my goal is to keep returning to my ethics for a good life.

Wisdom to Know by Anonymous

 

Embracing Imperfections

If the best man's faults were written on his forehead,
it would make him pull his hat over his eyes.
--Gaelic proverb

Perfection apparently is not what this life is about at all, since perfection is nonexistent.

When I deal with my faults and imperfections, I am dealing with the basic issues of being a person.
I can become bitter and cynical about the imperfections of others, or I can realize every person is incomplete but growing, just as I am.
The way I look at the faults in others and the way I look at my own are closely tied together.
In my spiritual journey, I must begin with the premise that no person ever achieves perfection.

Since I am not perfect, I have to be accountable.
I must have standards for my behavior and hold myself to those standards, admitting my mistakes and making repairs where I can.