Perfection is a fallacy. Why? Because everyone has a different persepective. What is perfect for one may need to adjusted for the next. People who are able understand and respond to criticism in a positive matter are happier people and they are always improving and changing their view of perfection.
When my neice was quite young she and her friend loved having “sunshine bangs”. I thought they were hidious. I somehow knew that when she grew up she would blame us for letting her hair stick straight up and look so awful. (It took a lot of work to look that bad.)
In her journal I had her write her favorite dress, shoes, hair and a million ohter favorite things. (Well, the goal was a million, we didn’t quite make it.) We had pictures and her own handwriting in her journal as our proof of being supportive of her choices.
On the back of one her pictures with “sunshine bangs” I had left her a message. “I thought these bangs were hideous. We loved you enough to know that your choices were important and what was important at the time was that you felt beautiful and happy.”
The time came when she was telling us how rude we had been to let her look so foolish. I was so prepared. I carefully removed the picture from the journal and let her read the message.
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Question of
Do you know how she felt?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you think I did the right thing?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you want to hear the rest of the story?
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Yes
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No
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