Importance of Understanding Imperfection

First, I want to start with the definition of the word "perfect" and the idea of "perfection"

Perfection is the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.

Perfect refers to having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be. Or, absolute; complete (used for emphasis)

In reality, there is no such thing as being perfect or the idea of something such as perfection. Nothing in this entire world is perfect. No person or animal is perfect. I want to take a minute and talk about the literal meaning of the definition and how it fits into our world.

From a Biblical standpoint, God created everything in His image which concludes that everything is actually perfect. To God, we are perfect even if in reality we actually are not. If you look at it from a human perspective and take away God's view of us, you can see how imperfect we really are. We are not imperfect because of God. We are imperfect because of our own faults and our own consequences for the wrong choices we make. We are imperfect because we choose to walk away from God instead of toward Him. There are multiple reasons why people choose to walk away from Him but that will be for another piece. To continue.....we are imperfect because we do not fit into society's worldview or point of view in simpler terms. We are imperfect if we do not look a certain way that society expects us to look. Society is imperfect too. The point that I am trying to convey here is that perfection does not exist on earth and in our world today. In literal terms, we are not perfect and that is 100% okay.

Society says in order for you to fit in and be "perfect" you must look and act a certain way in order to fit into the world's image. Society says that if you are a girl you must have clear skin, you must be tall, skinny, slim, fit, with big boobs and a big butt. The thing is that over time the image of a girl and how she has looked has changed but it is never set up for making you feel better about yourself. I will explain why. If you are too skinny then you are told you are sick/need to gain weight. If you are not skinny enough then you should lose weight because it is not beautiful. If you are "ugly" then you should put makeup on. If you are beautiful then you are seen as trying too hard when you put makeup on. The list goes on and on. You will never be good enough from society's perspective. You are either too much or not enough. There is no in-between. If you are a guy then you are told/taught to be aggressive and to show no feelings at all. You are taught to shove all the feelings down. If you are a guy, you are taught that you need to be physically fit and strong in order to be accepted. Let me tell you something. There is nothing wrong with the way you look outside. You are who you are and you are beautiful in your natural form/body. You DO NOT need to change for anyone else but yourself.

If you are an unhealthy weight to the point where you could lose your life then absolutely you need to do something about it because it is your life we are talking about! Outward beauty is not worth it if you have to lose your life over it. However, you should not have to change how you look just because you feel like you do not fit into society's beauty standards. You should work out and become fit because you want to do so. You should do it to feel good about yourself and to stay healthy. The same thing goes for men. If a girl wants you to change your appearance for her and threatens to break up with you if you do not do so, then is she really worth it? If she wants you to change your appearance because she knows you are unhealthy then that might be a different story. It may be her way of trying to support you. There are differences between health and just changing your appearance in order to please someone else.

Men are taught that they should not be emotional and that they should be tough all the time. Here is the truth. You do not have to be tough all the time! You do not have to shove down your feelings because society tells you to. A man can still be strong and share his emotions with other people. Men that do not share their emotions can sometimes have hard hearts. By this, I mean that their hearts are not open to the ones that may try to love them along the way. A man that shoves all his emotions down can become incredibly depressed too and can have problems communicating in future relationships. Emotions are a part of learning how to communicate with someone. There is of course a lot more depth that I could go into with this topic. If men shove down their feelings then they can also burden someone else when they decide to let them all out at once. Having emotions is not a weakness. It means you are human. It means that you do in fact feel something. Men can even show their pain and emotions through anger even though sometimes it may only be interpreted as anger. There are always two sides to every story. There is always more depth to a person than you may see on the surface. Human beings act the way they do for multiple different reasons. We need to be careful in misinterpreting other people, including their outward emotions and actions. This paragraph does not necessarily have to be just for men but it can be the same for anyone else that has shoved their emotions down and continues to do so.

High School and The Social Hierarchy

We create such impossible standards for ourselves to uphold when it comes to appearance and it is not limited to one specific person. Everyone is a victim of feeling the need to uphold certain beauty standards whether admitting it or not. Another aspect I would like to include in this topic of "perfection", is the social hierarchy that is present in public high schools.

There is such a thing as a social hierarchy. It is something that happens automatically but at the same time, it is caused by us/adults of the schools. Adults do not teach depth to children in high school as much as they should. High school is focused on one thing only. Grades and academic performance. High school does not teach children much about life, life lessons, discipline, respect, compassion, and so forth. At least not at the high school that I attended. Even if a high school does teach these things, I do not think that teachers always enforce these aspects of life that children/students should indeed learn about.

In high school, there are cliques, popularity, social ratings among students, body counts, and whatever else you get inside the mix. Quiet students are seen as unpopular. Loud and outgoing students are generally seen as popular. Once again, remember, this is from a public high school aspect. Students that go out, party, drink, and sleep around are seen as fun, popular, and interesting. Quiet, nerdy students that enjoy school are seen as losers and unpopular. Athletes are seen as popular. Then there is the cheerleader stereotype too. The typical stereotypes that are portrayed in teenage movies. You also get your typical "mean" girls and so on. You get guys that see how many girls that they can sleep with and make a game out of it. You see broken relationships, friendships, and bullying.

We are taught that excluding other people because they are different is an okay thing to do. In high school, children/students learn how to exclude other people in terms of their social hierarchy or their social standing. These social hierarchy's are in themselves imperfect and inaccurate. Human beings are placed into certain categories and then based on the category they are in, it is decided whether they are an important person or not. It is also decided whether they will be a popular or unpopular person. It is only one part of your life. There are generally three social classes in life, lower class, middle class, and higher/upper class. These classes are used in terms of deciding money positions, power positions, royal positions, and so on. The three classes can be applied to other aspects of life too.

The standards we try to uphold for ourselves are caused by influences from the kids we go to school with, our parents, the media, other family members, friends, and students in College's or Universities. There are a lot of aspects in life that can/will influence our way of thinking about a specific idea, mindset, mind state, and etc.

In the end of your life, outward appearance is not something that defines you or your life. When your life comes to an end, appearance will be the least of your worries heh...(mind my brutal truths). My point is that when you get old one day, your appearance will not stay the same and in the end it will not matter if you were attractive or not. There are more important things in life than outward beauty. The truth is that your heart (inward beauty) is way more important than anything external. It may sound cheesy but it is the truth.

There was a quote that I read once and it went something like this:

A lie is still a lie even if everyone believes it. The truth is still the truth even if no one believes it.

In the sense of God's perspective, He does not care how you look outwardly because you are once again perfect in His eyes. Every human being is unique. There is not ONE SINGLE person on this entire earth that is exactly the same. Isn't that incredible to think about? Let that one sink in. I will repeat it.

There is NOT one single person on this entire planet EARTH that is the EXACT SAME. That is how amazing God is at creating human life. It seems like something impossible to think about but that is incredible that no one is exactly the same. Everyone is completely different and similar at the same time. Everyone has a different perspective on life and experiences life differently. Even if someone has a similar experience or an event that occurred in their life compared to the other person, they are still different.