The Harm of Human Search for Perfection

Everyone is different and unique in their own way. Without this uniqueness everyone would be the same and everything would get stale very quickly. As humans, we naturally crave perfection not only for ourselves, but also for others. This can be seen in The Birthmark and in Imelda. Embracing our differences can be challenging, but through The Wonderful Mistake and The Double Helix one can learn to appreciate their flaws as it is incredible humans are even alive.

The search for perfection is never-ending.

In The Birthmark it is said that Georgiana’s only flaw is an insignificant mark on her cheek that looks like a handprint. Although Aylmer, Georgiana’s husband, loved Georgiana he progressively begins to dislike looking at her face. This led his wife to become self-conscious about something she had never considered a fatal flaw. Eventually, she could not take his ridiculing anymore and asked Aylmer to remove it for good. This proved to be a tremendous mistake for Georgiana as the removal costs her life.

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The story of Imelda was awfully similar to this. Imelda had a cleft lip and was pushed by her mother to see a doctor so it would become fixed and she would be “beautiful”. Like Georgiana, Imelda’s life is lost while the doctor is performing the surgery to alter her facial features. These stories demonstrate the two most extreme hazards humans may stumble upon during their search for perfection.

The Wonderful Mistake can get one thinking about all the odds defied in order for humans to have been able to evolve into the critical thinkers they are today.

In this piece, Lewis Thomas discloses how all of life came from a single molecule that naturally grew to create every living thing seen on earth today. So far, nothing this molecule has made turned out perfectly. If the search for perfection stops humans from valuing any imperfections, mother nature will be forever changed. The molecule that started life is still successfully expanding after billions of years without human interaction. If humans were to suddenly start changing their DNA or the DNA of other forms of life the results are unpredictable. The Double Helix tells the story of how the structure of DNA was discovered in 1953. After only studying DNA for 64 years, it is impossible that humans possess the knowledge to predict what will happen after altering it. If the implications are anything like those in The Birthmark or Imelda many species may die or may never be born.

Humans need to learn to accept themselves for who they are. The human race has already proven to perform poorly when trying to alter the path of nature. An example of this is deforestation. Not only is this contributing to global warming, but it cost thousands of species their habits. If people want a “perfect” planet they need to stop trying to alter it. The same goes for humans, do not physically alter someone in hopes they become “perfect”. It is everyone’s duty to allow nature to run its course the same way it has been for the past seven billion years.