He was told he wouldn’t live past the age of 21.
His failing motor functions began during his first years at Cambridge University and continued to engulf his body since. Thirty-something years later, he has buildings named after him and statues built on his likeness.
This is Stephen Hawking.
And I’d say that’s a great way to tell Mr. Reaper to suck it.
Perfection is a fallacy. We can get close to perfect, possibly, in the work we do or the things we create, but BEING perfect is downright ignorant. There is just no such thing. I can barely stay perfectly still in one spot but now I’m just fishing.
So the alternatives are good, great, excellent, and unfathomably fantastic. I try to be the last one at all times. See what reactions you get when someone asks, “How are you?” and you respond in your most exuberant voice, “UNFATHOMABLY FANTASTIC!”… It’ll make your day I’m sure of it.
We are all born imperfect and that’s perfectly amazing to me. (Although I do wish I was a little bit taller.) If we were born as perfect little babies to become perfect little toddlers, to go through high school without a scratch and come out as a perfect adult… the world would be boring.
Instead, a lot of us are born with problems. A lot of us develop issues. Sometimes shit just happens. Oh well. Accept that we are all going to go through hardships and adapt then move on.
Humans are genetically flawed to begin with. Hell, the Human Genome Project made that quite apparent (10 years and $3 Billion dollars later). While scientists research and propose new and upgraded medicine to deal with our deficiencies, there is only so much that we as individuals can do besides help fund the research.
But let’s not take our predisposition to disease and failing functionality so negatively. I’m not going to go all spiritual and personal development extremist on you because that just isn’t me. Not that I see anything wrong in that (the spiritual part at least, I try to be Zen), but I really can’t imagine my legs as roots of trees and opening my heart to the wonderment of human energy, or something of that matter. I will tell you it’s stupid to think of all the things that are wrong with us.
It’s a downward spiral from that point on, and that’s just not a very happy place. *sarcasm*
If you find yourself doing this, please smack yourself in the back of the head. Ladies, you can gently tap your cheek with your hand if the former is too much for you. In either case, knock it off. We can think of as many good things about ourselves as we can the bad.
Space Cowboys and Adamantium
[I'm about to get real geeky right now. Brace Yourself]
Every hero (and superhero alike) has his flaws.
The flawed protagonist in any story is an intriguing journey. The suggestions for inadequacies create a character far more interesting than say, a Chad from Prestigious University with three masters, a Porsche, a glamour model wife, 2.5 kids, and Lassie.
Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop) is a man with a death wish. Not exactly someone you’d vow to be as a naïve adolescent. Hunting bounties for a living isn’t what you’d call secure living, but it pays for the ramen that gets in his belly, and enables him to get by. Even that doesn’t sound worth it either, I know.
He has a particular set of skills which make him effective and efficient in the hunting for his prey, as well as a view of life which make him fearless in his pursuits. He drifts from job to job and planet to planet with no clear destination, putting himself in life and death situations on purpose.
What pull us in to this character are the whys and the motivations. He doesn’t aspire to be anything other than ordinary yet possesses extraordinary skill. For everyone who happens to friend Spike, he unwittingly becomes their protector, being compelled into risky endeavors in the guise of selfishness.
Peculiarity is magnetic.
And we all know Wolverine, or at least we should (shame on you if you’re clueless). The iconic “X-Man” and the most recognized one, with those indestructible claws that protract from between the radius and the ulna of his forearms to pierce through the backsides of his hands, or knuckles if you prefer the movie version. Either way, that’s just cool.
Here’s a guy walking around with no conscious memory of his past, and not even knowing if his name is Logan. He cares nothing for others or his own life and keeps a barrier up on the emotional front. A tad on the anti-social side and torn internally by something he’s unable to fully realize.
Yet… he’s a bad-ass. I need not go into detail about that though; you must experience that for yourself.
Suffice it to say, both of these guys have issues. They may not be perfect, but they’re definitely not boring.
Two things spring to mind:
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Flawed characters are interesting.
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Flawed characters are attractive.
Interesting in the sense that they are indeed a mystery, and mystery intrigues us. If something intrigues us, it also attracts us.
Get Good At Sucking
Oscar Pistorius was conceived normally… if you discount the fact he was born with no bones in his legs. At 11 months old they were surgically amputated. If you haven’t heard of him, you’ve probably seen him at least. He’s a double amputee people call the “Blade Runner” and holds the record for the sprints in the Paralympics running on what at first glance would seem like bent skis called The Cheetah Flex-Foot.
It’s actually really amazing to watch him run. Whoever created that flex foot probably ran over his parents’ skis as a kid. Good things come out of FUBARs. Have you ever used a Post-It? Its adhesive was meant to be a lot stickier than it originally was intended for. I use them all the time!
Let’s face it, we all know there’s no such thing as perfect, and to believe in that is to set ourselves up for a brutal mafia-style beat down.
Perfection lies in the minds of those who are too afraid to get their feelings hurt, care too much about what others think, or delusional, with a touch of superiority-complex. (I love those guys. Especially the ones that show off their oil-laden “guns” with the Superman logo tatted on their deltoids.)
One huge point I’d like to make is this:
Our imperfect qualities are what make us unique
In ignoring what makes us unique, we ignore what makes us remarkable. And remarkable is always a good quality.
