Perfect Imperfection!

Perfection: Painting by Jason Oliva

Alicia Menendez, in a beautiful and moving Undergraduate English Oration, "Perfect Imperfection" describes her feelings and expectations when she first entered Harvard University and what she learned during her four years there:

Four years ago many of us received letters inviting us to be part of a seemingly perfect world. We all knew the response that the quasi-mythical idea of Harvard elicited from others: a sense of shock and awe. As Harvard students, the façade of perfection was transferred to us. Our first year, tourists asked us to hold their babies and take pictures, exclaiming: “Current Harvard student, future Harvard student!” as though our touch would bestow an intellectual blessing. Four years later the most valuable lesson we have learned is that Harvard is not perfect, and neither are we.

In absolving us of the burden of personal perfection, Harvard inadvertently prepared us for life. Life itself is imperfect: Things fall apart. People fall apart. Friendships fall apart. Even families fall apart. It was a lesson that we as a class and we as a nation learned the day before our first Harvard lecture: September 11, 2001. But in the course of our time here, we also learned that it is our responsibility to each other and to ourselves to pick things up and put them back together. Some seams are effortlessly re-stitched with an apology or a kind word. Others take more time, more healing. And still others require more sociological super-glue than we have at our disposal. But we cannot afford to simply resign ourselves to the fact that things are not perfect in the first place. We cannot turn our backs on people, things, or an institution we once loved, simply because we have found their flaws. What we can do is reassemble the pieces and find beauty in the way things come together, even if it is different from the way things once were, even if it is not perfect. Continue reading: Alicia Menendez Perfect Imperfection

“We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves. The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse comes from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what it means to be perfect and never measuring up to that ideal. Our image of perfection is the reason we reject ourselves the way we are, and why we don't accept others the way they are.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

“The maxim ‘Nothing but perfection’ may be spelled ‘Paralysis.’” ~ Winston Churchill

“After enough mirror gazing, we all develop our ‘cosmic sense of humor.’ We no longer try to be perfect, or try to get all our work done in time. We become content with whatever life brings. Just to deal with what comes up without crucifying ourselves or others is enough of a challenge.” ~ Paul Ferrini