Don't mess with imperfection

Today I watched the first few episodes of a show called "Dollhouse."

It was created by Joss Whedon, and I basically worship at the altar he has created. My favorite has to be Firefly and the consequential movie, Serenity.

Both Serenity and Dollhouse bring up an interesting point that I'd like to talk about today. They both bring up this idea of people making people better. Making people perfect.

Imperfection is what makes us human. It's what makes us perfect. Honestly, if I were actually to meet someone who was perfect, I would probably first doubt that they were a member of the human race and then die of jealousy or frustration.

We weren't made to be perfect. Mistakes and messing up are things that make us learn and grow and change. You can like a friend for what makes them good, for their laugh or humor or whatever. But you know you love a friend when you like what makes them imperfect. Maybe they have a tendency to be honest that translates into cruelty sometimes. Maybe they have a goofy laugh. Maybe their eyes don't match.

I think it's the things that are "wrong" that make us who we are more than the things that make us "right." Our quirks and oddities define us much more than the things that make us similar. I'm defined more by my refusal to wear makeup than I am by my looks by themselves. People notice the fact that I have only one dimple, and that I never wear socks that match. It's the imperfect touches that make people "perfect."

I wrote a poem on the subject back when I was a freshman in high school, and if I ever find it successfully, I'll post it.

Individuality and imperfection are joined at the hip. The same traits that make us imperfect make us individuals. I stand by the principle that you will never find two people with the same set of imperfections. If just one or two people were perfect, we would find them annoying and refuse to interact with them due to jealousy or frustration, which would in turn make them imperfect. If everyone was perfect, no one would be different. We don't live in a world of ultimatums, and we shouldn't try to. The world isn't black and white, and it isn't "many shades of grey." The world is a whole spectrum of colors and people and wonder and amazement. Start throwing around words like perfect and the world becomes black and white; perfect and imperfect. Nothing can be or ever will be perfect. Perfection is all about perception. I can perceive something to be perfect, and to me, maybe it is. But to someone else, maybe it won't be. Perfection isn't universal. Everyone strives to make themselves better, and they should. We should all try to grow and change to be better people.

But setting a bar at perfection is ridiculous, when flushing away our imperfections is equivalent to flushing away our personalities and quirks and everything that makes us unique. I think that if we can go through life and find one person in the world who thinks of us as perfect, that's enough.

So let your flaws be.

Imperfectly,

-T.A.D.