Practice makes perfect-or Perfectly imperfect

[Edwin]

They say practice makes perfect, but I have heard it said that only perfect practice makes perfect. Well, I don't know for sure about that, but I know what they were trying to say. If you practice errors, you will make more errors. While you practice you will make errors, and then you work to eliminate errors so that you are making fewer errors all the time. Not doing something because you don't think you can do it perfectly is not the way things should be done either. You get in a do what you can, the best you can, and whatever happens is okay.

I like to think that people are honest and want to do what is right. I know I am wrong about that, but that is what I want to believe. I want to believe that people are genuine and present themselves honestly as they are, but I know that is not always true either, but I wish it were true. I think for many of the people on this forum, they are true, honest, and genuine.

[mystic]

Practicing perfection... I admit that I have always been trying to keep consistent with God and myself. But I see that for many people it is just a too heavy burden. People want to live a simple and easy life, without problems/complications. Why do we need to life in an eternal fight? Going for perfection just means that fight, against our shortcomings, against the problems that we find in life, against anything.
In the west, this point of view maybe has led to current short-term commitment in marriages. People see somebody who had an accident on the road... and just think: "Somebody will stop". And they go away. Or, if they stop, it is usually just for curiosity, and not to help. It is not a rule, but it is often this way.
Then, there is a small category of people who still believe in old values, but they know that they have to be extra careful in life, because most people out there do not think as they do. So, in the west there are always less marriages. It surprised me this year to hear in the news in Italy, the center of Catholicism, that the number of unmarried couples living together surpassed the number of married couples. So, since divorce was only allowed in my previous generation, this means that most married couples now are the old people. Young people almost in their entirety do not marry.
In my generation, I have only a couple of friends who married. All the others... are still single. And I have many friends who are in their 50's too...

So, practicing perfection can really make you a certified single. It can make you also alienated from the community, because they see you picky and perfectionist. Here they use this term as a bad word. To me, the people use the word "jurassic", to describe my old way of thinking.

To make a further example of western countries, how the concept of perfection became just an aleatory added value to goods, I will mention that most new generations do not care to improve, to learn new things, to care for their life. They live in the illusion that they go out to buy something that they need, and it is just given to them, without effort. When it breaks, they just throw it away and buy a new one. And the same logic is used in dating. They do not even study for their career, except the minimum required to get the piece of paper. Ask them to change a lamp, to substitute an electrical cable... they don't know how to do it. They cannot fix things. If somebody needs to fix a shirt, or an umbrella, there will be nobody in the house who can do it. But even worse... if they go to find a shop that can do it... they will find no shop. They closed them all. People prefer to buy a thing anew rather than fix it.
I like sometimes to fix some electronics, and many times I went to the shops that sell electronic components. I went even to the largest supply chains in my region, just to find a very silly thing: enameled copper wire. Result: nobody has it. They all say that they used to have it 10 years ago, but now there is nobody distributing it any longer. I ask them: "So, how will I connect the components inside my kit?" Answer: "I don't know".

Of course, it is not so everywhere. I think that Germany is better than Italy. Maybe I am exaggerating too, but I'm just saying about a common trend in the west. In Italy, where I live, it is so. Nobody cares to perfect things. When I am looking for something, I search the internet to buy it in China directly. And so there are many westerns in sites like this who come here to find a wife in the Philippines. It's all connected.

Indeed, examining the attitude of a person toward perfection is a very good way to assess how he/she is in life, and if he/she will be a committed person, whose word stands where he/she puts it. You can also see if that person likes to improve, fix things, what he/she is building in his/her life. I hope I didn't make a heavy post on the subject. I will love to hear from everybody what they think about the concept of perfection being related to consumerism vs perfection as something that needs to be cultivated in western countries.

[Edwin]

You are right, mystic, about our throw away society. Our neighbors had an old one ton Chevy truck catch fire and burn a few years ago. I think it was an electrical problem that caused the fire. It was in the winter and the tires were sitting in snow so they are still fine. I thought about getting that old truck and fixing it up, but while talking with my brother, he told me that parts are so expensive that I could buy a truck already going cheaper than fixing up that old truck, and that is probably why the neighbors have done nothing to get it going again. It is cheaper many times, most times to throw away some appliance, and buy another, or a new one, rather than fixing the old one. I like to fix the old one if at all possible, because I don't like throwing things away. I had a chance to buy a beautiful piano bench, but I knew I would not want to throw away the one sitting in front of my old piano. The old bend is not beautiful, but it would look better, and more in place than a new bench! The new bench had a padded seat, and maybe I should have bought it, because the price was right, but I could bare to get rid of the old one, so I still have the old one!

[jennylyn]

No perfect relationship if there is any I wish there is. Many relationships did not work and some did. It depends on how you fight for your love to one another.

[mystic]

I always think that "perfection" comes from the balance among past, present and future. Modern generations seem to forget completely the past. I think that there is no news under the hood. Everything that we know today was already known in our past. Only, today it might become more explained thanks to science. Well, it does not apply to everything, but most things. If we cultivate our roots (forefathers, etc.), we will be connected to our future too.

The days of the kids listening to the stories of the old fisherman on the beach are past. Theaters become quickly history. Heroes do not exist any more. But we are losing something...

[Edwin]

Yes, mystic, we are losing something when we lose sight of our past. It is true if we connect with our past people we learn more about who we are and where we are going. To forget the past is to make some of the same mistakes all over again that were already made in the past. I love history. Falling down buildings, people who move elsewhere, and people who die all make me sad. But, one thing for sure, these things will all be burned up with a fervent heat, and God will create all things new. If we do the will of God we will be there to inherit the wonderful things God has prepared for those who love Him!