Lately I’ve been thinking about how much our society idles over the idea of perfection, often in physical ways. Perfection just doesn’t seem like reality, it only seems like something that reality constantly sets and that people think about every minute. I looked up the definition of perfect to go along with this article and I found that there is more than one definition of perfect. The definitions that I found are as follows: “Conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type.” “Excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement.” “Exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose.” “Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings.” “Accurate, exact or correct in every detail.” “Thorough; complete; utter.” “Pure or unmixed.”
The first definition I find true with pretty much everyone today, “conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type.” As I mentioned earlier, society is constantly setting certain standards for people to reach. People are also setting their own standards at the same time. Conforming is something that is always done, you can’t really stop it, no matter how much someone might want to say they are an individual. Even I am conforming right this minute. A person made this computer, and sold it expecting someone to buy it. I conformed and bought the computer and am now writing on it. I may have conformed, but I don’t think it means that I was the “perfect” owner for this PC. The other definition of perfect, “Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings” is the definition of perfect that I find entirely unreachable by any person. How is it possible that someone can match that definition? Someone might call you in for an interview and have you answer some questions they have. The interviewer might love your answers and think you are the “perfect” candidate for the job and you receive the job right on the spot. However, you had another job interview the week before that you just weren’t the right fit for that led you to this one, therefore, you can’t be perfect for everything. Going back to the idea I just talked about with the job interview, the other definition of perfect is, “Exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose.” The person got the job because they were the right fit that the employee was looking for at the right time. It didn’t necessarily mean that the person was perfect in every way. It just meant that they could achieve perfection in a certain situation. I think that is the kind of perfection we should be striving for as a society. We shouldn’t be striving for perfect looks, but striving to be the right person for a certain situation. Or, striving to better our grades so that one day we can graduate school. Whatever it is you are going through right now working to better the situation. Not that perfection has to be a negative thing, but something that we strive for in emotional and positive ways.
