"It remains our generation’s moral imperative to take responsibility and help our children manage the many issues they are facing today, including encouraging positive social, emotional, and physical habits."
Melania Trump First Lady of the United States
It's hard to know what to make of this quote. Someone has a moral imperative to encourage positive social, emotional and physical habits in our children. Someone should strive to BE BEST.
Okay...
Okay...
We try our best to be our best and fail over and over. We try to be kind and end up being cruel. We try to be honest and end up being dishonest. We try to be brave and end up being cowardly. We want to be polite and end up being rude. We want to be smart and end up doing stupid things etc. etc. etc. I know this to be true from personal experience and would propose that anyone with a tiny bit of self awareness also knows this to be true for themselves. We try to be good and do good and end up being bad and doing bad (hurtful, selfish, thoughtless) things.
I fall short. We fall short.
As long as we are aware of our failing and strive to do better there is no shame in imperfection. Human individuals are messy, crazy, wild, mixed-up, cowardly, brave, honest, dishonest, kind, cruel, smart, stupid, wise, foolish - the whole catastrophe. There is no way around this. You can be a better human but you can't be a perfect human.
Anyone who outwardly seems perfect should be viewed with a degree of skepticism. The perfect wife, father, husband, child, - exists only in fairy tales. Even a saint can approach perfection in some role and fail miserably in other roles. No human is beyond redemption. Part of redemption is to admit fault and ask for forgiveness. Humans unable or unwilling to admit their flaws are therefore sadly irredeemable.
Any thing made by man is flawed. Some things approach a greater degree of perfection but no man made thing can be perfect. If you think your religion, country, party are perfect - think some more.
The key to achieving greater perfection is examining your own life and being self-aware enough to realize where one falls short and can improve. Being imperfect we can all improve. If you think you are perfect or can reach perfection - think some more.
We're all sinners and paradoxically, beautifully, in our own messy human way - we are all saints.
That is the crux of the issue - accepting the beautiful imperfections of being human and balancing that acceptance with the desire to be and do better.
I fall short. We fall short.
As long as we are aware of our failing and strive to do better there is no shame in imperfection. Human individuals are messy, crazy, wild, mixed-up, cowardly, brave, honest, dishonest, kind, cruel, smart, stupid, wise, foolish - the whole catastrophe. There is no way around this. You can be a better human but you can't be a perfect human.
Anyone who outwardly seems perfect should be viewed with a degree of skepticism. The perfect wife, father, husband, child, - exists only in fairy tales. Even a saint can approach perfection in some role and fail miserably in other roles. No human is beyond redemption. Part of redemption is to admit fault and ask for forgiveness. Humans unable or unwilling to admit their flaws are therefore sadly irredeemable.
Any thing made by man is flawed. Some things approach a greater degree of perfection but no man made thing can be perfect. If you think your religion, country, party are perfect - think some more.
The key to achieving greater perfection is examining your own life and being self-aware enough to realize where one falls short and can improve. Being imperfect we can all improve. If you think you are perfect or can reach perfection - think some more.
We're all sinners and paradoxically, beautifully, in our own messy human way - we are all saints.
That is the crux of the issue - accepting the beautiful imperfections of being human and balancing that acceptance with the desire to be and do better.
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