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CockneyRebel
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18 Aug 2010, 8:42 am

I find, that I seem to be allergic to perfection. We live in a society that worships perfect bodies and faces. You have to have a 6-Pack if you're a man. You have to look like a porn star, if you're a woman. You can't have dark circles under your eyes, or a big bottom lip. Well thats what my ex friend Teresa told me, last summer.

Parents only want to raise perfect children, with perfect milestones, perfect bladder and bowel control, who have perfect brains and get perfect grades.

I don't fall for any of that stuff. Be healthy and live your best life, but perfection drives me up the wall. I love my big, soft body and bottom lip. Just as long as I stay at the weight I'm at, or lose 50 to get down to 200.

That whole perfect, beautiful children nonsense, has been brought onto today's society, by Autism Speaks.


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ToughDiamond
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18 Aug 2010, 8:52 am

I agree, perfectionism in an imperfect world is an impairment. I still catch myself taking the wrong way because the right way "wouldn't be perfect." It's nice to be a craftsman with a good eye for a fine job, and I get a lot of pleasure from "going the extra mile" and turning out something that's really excellent, but
a) it's still not perfect anyway, and
b) it's not good to apply it to people.

I also have a large-ish bottom lip, but I'm not ashamed of it. I like to pretend to be pouting and stick it out. And I once read that Mick Jagger's sex appeal was mostly in his big lips, so it makes me sexy too. 8)



zer0netgain
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18 Aug 2010, 9:35 am

The fault is in a society that worships its definition of "perfect."

Most people are decent-looking be we feel pressured to measure up to someone else's ideal.

This problem is only reinforced if you grow up in an environment where someone makes you feel that some flaw within you is why you are being rejected when in truth their rationale is just an excuse for why they are making their choice. This leads to people thinking, "If only I was more ____, they would accept and love me." The end result is a mindless pursuit of the image of perfection out of a desire to be accepted.



just-lou
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18 Aug 2010, 9:46 am

It depends on what your perceptions of perfection are, if you are adhering to your own standards or someone else's.
Take my perceptions as an example - my idea of perfection rests on ability. Physical strength increases my body's efficiency and capacity to do more things with greater ease. Thus, I value physical strength and go about cultivating that by bodybuilding, running, fighting. I value independence, thus learning new skills that help me to support myself and assist other people are of value to me, which is why I'm at university.
You seem to be using the generally socially accepted standards of perfection in your example - that people must value physical beauty (weight, aesthetic looks), linear academic success. I don't know about you, but I do not value physical beauty. I value academic success only if it has a practical application that can perform some needful function. I don't understand the adherence to those kinds of standards, as they change from culture to culture, generation to generation, and it seems futile to be stressing over something so meaningless, intangible and transcient.
Funny, that I could probably easily conform to others' ideas of perfection. I have been told I'm "attractive" when I present as a female, and I could conform my life to more closely mimic the "perfect" ideals of others.
Just that my idea of perfection is very different to other people's ideas, and in that way, the whole concept of perfection is subjective enough to be completely meaningless.



Erisad
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18 Aug 2010, 9:49 am

zer0netgain wrote:
The fault is in a society that worships its definition of "perfect."

Most people are decent-looking be we feel pressured to measure up to someone else's ideal.

This problem is only reinforced if you grow up in an environment where someone makes you feel that some flaw within you is why you are being rejected when in truth their rationale is just an excuse for why they are making their choice. This leads to people thinking, "If only I was more ____, they would accept and love me." The end result is a mindless pursuit of the image of perfection out of a desire to be accepted.


I know this is why I'm always down on myself about my weight and inability to obtain a quality relationship. I feel that if I weren't so fat, I would attract a better man. I'm not trying to be perfect, just better than the fat sack of s**t I am now. Apparently, that's too much to ask. D: