Perfection

About twenty-five years ago, a neighbor of mine took clippers to every bush and tree in his yard and trimmed them to what he thought was a perfect shape. Among his trees was a dogwood that he trimmed into a perfect sphere on top of a straight trunk. Why would anyone do that to a dogwood?

The yard looked like illustrations we have all seen in children's books, wherein the trees and most of the animals assumed perfect geometric shapes.

Reflecting on this phenomenon, it occurred to me that what makes life interesting is not perfection, but imperfection. It is deviation from perfection - the asymmetries rather than the symmetries of life that make other persons recognizable. It is variations in thought and opinion that make other people intellectually interesting. If we were all perfect, by definition we would all be alike. And boring.

Vive le difference.