Fallacy Of Perfection

I have learned many things from my failures and the failures of others, and not the least of which is that we can believe our thought process and actions are perfect. A common byproduct of individualistic societies is the fallacy of perfection. As someone who was raised in a collectivistic household, but in an individualistic country, you can imagine the cognitive dissonance I faced on a daily basis. Though I faced dissonance every day, I learned that there are unintended aftereffects in both cultures, but there was one common effect, maybe it is a flaw in human nature, but a true flaw nonetheless. The misconception of perfection is astounding, because even those of us who claim not to be perfect, will often try to justify flaws in our thought

The thought of imperfection is only negative if we accept it without striving to be a better individuals and better citizens of society. We often forget to put aside our ego when discussing our imperfections, little do we realize the only way to grow is through critique. Now many of you may agree with me at this point, others may not, but those who agree I ask that you answer this question “How often do you put your ego aside when being constructively critiqued by someone younger than you, or someone who has less credentials than you?” I am going to assume the answer is not often, but if that is not the case, I tip my hat to you. We fail to realize that as citizens of society we are all equal, your your age means nothing, credentials mean nothing, your financial success means nothing, all that matters is how you can take constructive criticism and continue to grow, resulting in a better society for the future. It is important to remember that other’s can see thing we cannot, especially children as they have a perspective we may have forgotten through the years.

Now it is important to differentiate critique and the common misuse of criticism; though these are synonymous, they seem to be misused. Criticism, in today’s world, is seen as judgement, whereas critique is a constructive analysis. We can grow through actively accepting constructive critique and criticism (the correct use of the word), because the reality is that we do not understand just how valuable it truly is. Elon Musk, an innovator and a proactive citizen of our society, said “A well thought out critique of whatever you’re doing is as valuable as gold.” So the question becomes just how much do you value