Perfection, yes! But at what cost?

This evening I chanced upon an interesting article by Gail Collins in the Deccan Chronicle, titled 'The Lin and Yang of lipsynching'. Speaking about perhaps the most memorable event of the Beijing Olympics inaugural ceremony, the article speaks of the extent to which we human beings can go to, just to achieve something as minimal as an impression. The little girl in a bright red dress who mesmerised the audience all over the world through her song that August 8, 2008 - Lin Miaoke (aged 9) was not the one who really sang the song. It was Yang Peiyi (aged 7) who really sang the song. Why then was Yang not let to do the singing live? Purely because she had imperfect teeth!! Wow, that's a mighty big reason why one little angel should be prevented from doing her job as herself. Thinking a bit broader, I think, we too do the same when it comes to offering bouquets and flowers to dignitaries on the dais during a function, we choose the most cute and smart ones. Those on the darker shade or unkempt are easily overlooked and ruled out! What I like of the author, Collins was that she stressed on the psychological harm that such a thing would do not just to little Yang but to Miaoke as well. Because Miaoke let to think that the whole world was listening to 'her' song.

Well there is a real need to strive towards perfection, and it does involve some pain and those involved have to bear the cost. But I think there's also a limit to that pain and cost - even that cannot be made perfect! You cannot be so ruthless, so as to bash on regardless of even the slightest consideration of breaking down a human being - all for want of perfection. Perhaps a good lesson for Salesian educators like me who hanker much for perfection!