Why I\'m Not the Perfect Kid

Joe Student

Joe Teacher

Why I am Not the Perfect Kid

When my best friend told me how perfect I was I actually blushed. What was it that she said, "You have great parents, you're getting great grades in school, you don't drink or smoke, you've never even thought about trying drugs, you're single with no kids -- hell, all nineteen-year-olds should have your life -- It's perfect - ***** -- you're perfect." suppose I blushed because in my head I am not the perfect kid. Besides, what is perfection and why do I feel I have not achieved it? Do I even want to achieve it? When I think of perfection I always think of the story of John Humphrey No/yes who died in 1886. No/yes was an outspoken religious and communal leader who in the 1860's helped found Oneida Community in central New York. No/yes had some crazy ideas and wrote some outrageous doctrines regarding alternative forms of marriage, but more important to this discussion is that he felt that he had reached perfection. "Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, No/yes was educated at Dartmouth and the Andover Seminary. While at Yale Divinity School, he announced that he had achieved human perfection and was promptly expelled." (Author not available, Noyes, John Humphrey (1811-1886)) Will I be expelled if I reach the realm of human perfection and become the perfect kid?

In nature, perfection is a survival skill. "In brief, nature was continually producing "low forms" of life, i.e., spontaneously generating. At any point in time, a creature could be challenged or stimulated by its environmental circumstances. Responding in some behavioral or anatomical manner -- it would need to respond or change in order to survive -- the organism would pass the modification to its offspring, and so enable its descendants to be a little more perfect. This improvement in the face of environmental challenge permitted the various primordial life-forms to rise up the scale of perfection. (Marks, 11) Well, I do survive from day-to-day. Does that make me perfect? If my parents didn't send me an allowance now and then or if the local supermarket was suddenly to become a non-entity, could I still survive? I can't even imagine that I actually have survival skills other than the fact that I can recite the ingredients of a Big Mac - 'two all beef patties special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.' I certainly do not feel that qualifies as perfect.

Maybe I need to learn to become perfect. I am in school to acquire as much information as I can. Maybe I can just find out how to become impeccable by reading and studying more. If I wanted to be the richest man in America because wealth seems to be a good indicator of perfection, would all I really need to do to achieve this great feat is get a perfect education? I mean, look at Bill Gates. Isn't he the richest man in America. Would that indicate that he received a perfect education. He went to the best boarding schools and then on to Harvard for a Masters in, no, wait one second -- he dropped out of Harvard. He didn't even like school. "Meanwhile, at Harvard, Gates' story is told by classmate Steve Ballmer (played by John DiMaggio), who would later become the financial arm of Microsoft. Gates is portrayed as obsessed with poker, Playboy magazines and computers, and not at all interested in finishing college." (Author not available, "A Tale Of Two Geeks") Come to think of it, out of all the graduates of every school throughout the history of this planet, has any one individual ever really achieved perfection based on his or her education? I suppose this means that school can not help me to achieve perfection. That is, if I even wanted to be the perfect kid.

Maybe I am not the perfect kid because my parents are not perfect? Maybe my parents should have passed on better genes. "The hundreds of thousands of genes, the units of heredity, are composed of long strands of DNA. This hereditary material is organized into a manageable number of units we call chromosomes. Chromosomes are most commonly visualized in their condensed form, during cell division. At other times, when the cell is performing a function, rather than dividing, the genetic material is diffuse, spread throughout the cell nucleus. In an ordinary cell, there are two copies of each piece of DNA: one inherited from father, and one from mother. In more concrete terms, one inherits a single set of chromosomes from each parent, and a normal cell consists of two of each chromosome." (Marks, 17) With that being said, I think back to all the times my mom called me her perfect little angle. Was she trying to convince me of something she didn't really think to be true. Can parents cause perfection? I guess not.

So if the schools can't do it and parent's can't do it, if I wanted to be the perfect kid, how could it happen? I suppose I should rethink what perfection is. When in doubt, find a dictionary. Webster's defines perfection as "the state of being perfect or complete, so that nothing requisite is wanting; as perfection in an art or science; perfection in a system of morals." I love art and I have seen Van Goh's 'Starry Night' which to me seemed like perfection. But, I suppose that BMW I have always considered to be a 'requisite want' would eliminate me from that definition of perfection. Let's face it, a Beemer is great reason no to be the perfect kid.

Webster's went on to say, "Metaphysical or transcendental perfection, is the possession of all the essential attributes or all the parts necessary to the integrity of a substance. This is absolute, where all defect is precluded, such as the perfection of God; or according to its kind, as in created things. Moral perfection, is the complete possession of all moral excellence, as in the Supreme Being; or the possession of such moral qualities and virtues as a thing is capable of. A quality, endowment or acquirement completely excellent, or of great worth. An inherent or essential attribute of supreme or infinite excellence; or one perfect in its kind; as the perfection's of God. The infinite power, holiness, justice, benevolence and wisdom of God are denominated his perfection's."