Writing prompt: Name something you used to believe in as a child and don't anymore. Why?
One word :- Perfection. As a child I used to believe in perfection. In much the same manner as other children believed in tooth fairies or Santa Claus. Come to think of it I think we were all believers of perfection, at least when we were children.
As children we assumed that things could only be perfect or imperfect. There was no grey area. Almost everything fell into the former category. Whatever we didn't fully comprehend was perfect by default. Like adulthood for example. The great beauty of looking through a child's eyes is that you can only see the good in things. When I saw the adults around me I believed that adulthood was simply cooler. All that freedom and no school to attend, how I longed for that period of time in my life. Let me clarify here that right now I am not quite an adult yet. I think that depends on where one draws the line and I draw mine pretty far. I am just an 18 year old college freshman. But that in itself is validation for me to spout out my naive childhood beliefs.
According to my younger self, perfection wasn't the content of a sacred chalice or a rare gem in the depths of the earth. It was ever present like the air that surrounds us. When you haven't seen much how can what you see not be the very epitome of itself?
People seemed perfect all the time. If they were older than me, I automatically labelled them 'perfect'. Then somehow slowly those innocent eyes of a child get clouded or cleared(depending on your perspective) and there it is lo and behold :- IMPERFECTION.
Imperfection was a myth in my childhood and perfection was reality. And as the years passed, as I grew out of those clothes and the scratch marks on that impromptu height chart go higher up I realize that through all the rites and rituals of growing up the roles of 'myth' and 'reality' were reversed.
But I don't see imperfection as gloomy presence in our lives. Never. Imperfection is the very reason we continue to live our lives isn't it? It keeps the wheels of life turning I would say. Why you ask?
To become better people, to have better experiences, to perform better don't all these aims spring from the root of recognizing imperfection? Isn't that what its about? Striving to attain perfection, be it in your own eyes or someone else's or both. We know we can't get there so we just try and get as close as we can.
Imperfection is not a haunting presence in humanity or the world for that matter. Its God's greatest gift. Embrace imperfection. For without imperfection, there would be no purpose to life. And if that's what perfection entails then I think its highly flawed!
One word :- Perfection. As a child I used to believe in perfection. In much the same manner as other children believed in tooth fairies or Santa Claus. Come to think of it I think we were all believers of perfection, at least when we were children.
As children we assumed that things could only be perfect or imperfect. There was no grey area. Almost everything fell into the former category. Whatever we didn't fully comprehend was perfect by default. Like adulthood for example. The great beauty of looking through a child's eyes is that you can only see the good in things. When I saw the adults around me I believed that adulthood was simply cooler. All that freedom and no school to attend, how I longed for that period of time in my life. Let me clarify here that right now I am not quite an adult yet. I think that depends on where one draws the line and I draw mine pretty far. I am just an 18 year old college freshman. But that in itself is validation for me to spout out my naive childhood beliefs.
According to my younger self, perfection wasn't the content of a sacred chalice or a rare gem in the depths of the earth. It was ever present like the air that surrounds us. When you haven't seen much how can what you see not be the very epitome of itself?
People seemed perfect all the time. If they were older than me, I automatically labelled them 'perfect'. Then somehow slowly those innocent eyes of a child get clouded or cleared(depending on your perspective) and there it is lo and behold :- IMPERFECTION.
Imperfection was a myth in my childhood and perfection was reality. And as the years passed, as I grew out of those clothes and the scratch marks on that impromptu height chart go higher up I realize that through all the rites and rituals of growing up the roles of 'myth' and 'reality' were reversed.
But I don't see imperfection as gloomy presence in our lives. Never. Imperfection is the very reason we continue to live our lives isn't it? It keeps the wheels of life turning I would say. Why you ask?
To become better people, to have better experiences, to perform better don't all these aims spring from the root of recognizing imperfection? Isn't that what its about? Striving to attain perfection, be it in your own eyes or someone else's or both. We know we can't get there so we just try and get as close as we can.
Imperfection is not a haunting presence in humanity or the world for that matter. Its God's greatest gift. Embrace imperfection. For without imperfection, there would be no purpose to life. And if that's what perfection entails then I think its highly flawed!
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