Perfection: The Deadly Gold Mine?

July 18, 2013 4:42 pm

We all have our ideas and fantasies of it but what exactly are the lengths that people are willing to go to, to become perfect ?

The idea came to me while re-watching the critically acclaimed, Black Swan. The protagonist, Nina Sayers, seeks perfection culminating at the expense of her life. Personally I was always saddened by that. She had her whole life in front of her but threw it all away for some ideology concocted by gossips. Yes, she found freedom and yes, she lived her dream, but is death a better alternative to an ‘average’ life?  

gold mineI also recently came across a quote the other day, it said “death is God firing us and suicide is us quitting”, but is life really a dead-end job? Surely, life is so much better than that? We are given endless opportunities, we can see the whole world and experience so much adventure, is that really worth throwing all away? Yes, life is not perfect, even the greatest Greek philosophers admit that but life and the world is apeiron and megistos (endless and greatest), and that is enough, surely?  

Moreover, an often overlooked mental disorder is BDD, or, body dysmorphic disorder. BDD is an anxiety disorder “that causes sufferers to spend a lot of time worrying about their appearance and to have a distorted view of how they look,” according to the NHS. They continually spend thousands to “correct” their looks as a result of their own insecurities. A famous example of a plastic surgery addict is Hang Mioku. She became obsessed with plastic surgery after working as a model but when cosmetic surgeons refused to keep administering further treatment, she resorted to injecting cooking oil in her face to satisfy her obsession to have softer skin.10 subsequent surgeries, paid by the general public, have been undertaken to correct her disfigurement in an attempt to return her appearances to normal but this has resulted in complete and utter failure.  

Why be perfect? Why go to these lengths just to feel ‘complete’? Perfection is not something you can pursue; it is something you yield. Perfection is looking past your imperfections and accepting yourself as a person. So why aren’t more people perfect? Why search for more? Of course the answer to that is perfection is a living gold mine. Plastic Surgery, Designer Fashion, Make Up – all of these things considered ‘perfection’ cost money and the people sitting on top of that fortune don’t care about the ‘underdogs’ that are suffering, and why should they? They have their money, and that’s all that counts, right? But it shouldn’t and most people know that, so why do they keep on trying?


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