[ WP ] In a world where everybody is perfect , everybody is chasing imperfection .

“ I just want to be different. Special, you know? I want to be imperfect. I want meaning in my life. It almost makes me want to act out ” 
 
 Sam sighed as he looked out from the table past John, staring at the beautiful, healthy people all around him. Toned bodies, dimpled smiles, and warm voices dominated the scene. Rays of sun shone into the coffee shop from its large windows, casting everyone into even more picturesque versions of themselves. 
 
 The truth of his statement washed over John as he sat staring at his friend. 
 
 It was the year 2250, and everyone was chasing the “ flawed dream ” as it was called. Physical deformities, mental instabilities, tragical personal narratives - you name it, and people were trying to experience it. People lacked adversity and tragedy in their lives - no reasons to feel sorry for themselves - and were thus finding their experience of life to be unfulfilling. This existential dilemma was such a ubiquitous experience in modern life that everyone was familiar with it. So no one could even claim *that* as the imperfection in their life. 
 
 Bars were full of healthy people drinking themselves crazy, trying in vain to become ( tragically flawed! ) alcoholics; hospitals were overflowing with patients trying to convince doctors ( though mostly their acquaintances ) that they suffered from debilitating mental health issues that made their lives difficult and generally horribly sad and dramatic. Just the other day he had heard of another car crash where a man had slammed his car into the median, and emerged horribly crippled and deformed. His goal was to live the rest of his life sad and disabled, for which he ( in addition to being able to endlessly ruminate upon his physical injuries ) could then form a personal narrative of drama and adversity, in which he overcame his terrible accident and lived a wonderfully imperfect life. 
 
 But alas, it could not be so. Alcohol was now non-habit forming, and contemporary medical care ensured that save being torn to bits ( an incredibly difficult feat nowadays in the absence of war and violence ), your body and mind would be completely healed regardless of what you tried to do to it. People couldn ’ t even sap some self pity out of the premature loss of a parent or loved one because early deaths and accidents simply never happened anymore. All genetic imperfections that made one susceptible to mental and physical deformities had been wiped from the gene pool long ago via genetic engineering in the womb. Everyone was intelligent, tall and beautiful. The guy who crashed his car didn ’ t even have to pay for anything afterwards; the car and the median was repaired by the state at no cost to him. At the end of the day, there was simply nothing to do. 
 
 John sat dejectedly in silence as he thought about this. He looked up at the television screen above them. Humanity had recently made contact with a alien race, the cause of much fanfare. They were a relatively benign race at the same level of technology as Earth. 
 
 “ We should go to war with them ” John said suddenly. “ That will make people feel better ”. 
 
 And so they did.
