A Perfect Rule:

Embrace Imperfection

“The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection, there is no story to tell.”

Ben Okri

I hear a lot of griping about the imperfection of the world and its people these days—in fact, I do a lot of griping about it. Politics and religion, race and social pressure, climate change and economics; the controversial subjects we're not supposed to bring up in polite company, assuming there is such a thing, are all enough to make even a saint grumpy. We act as though we think the universe should run smoothly, and that humanity should behave like ants in a colony—each following a prescribed program.

The world is kind of like Earnest Hemingway—brilliant and troubled. We all read Hemingway's books in High School. The Old Man and the Sea was on our reading list, and anyone who hasn't read A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, should put them on their bucket list. Yet Hemingway, even though he grew up in a perfectly functional family, was a disaster of an alcoholic who specialized in risky behavior and eventually killed himself. He couldn't hold a relationship together to save his life, but oh, my, the stories that came out of that man's messed-up brain. Would we really want him to have been “perfect?”

Perfection, if it exists at all, is boring. We look at it and say, “Wow, that's perfect!” and walk away. The beauty, and juiciness, and warmth this life has to offer are found in its very fallibility. The good stories, interesting people, the reason to strive, and work, and struggle every single day is grist for a blemished mill. It's what makes life interesting, and worth living. Don't hide your imperfections. Embrace them!

                                                         In the Spirit,

                                                              Jane