You are not perfect. At the same time, you are perfect. That you are Schrödingers cat of perfect is, well, perfect.
It is this paradox that I will address in this article.
What is perfect
To achieve that, first we have to define what perfect is. The Merriam-Webster dictionary has several definitions. The first three are the most accurate for our cause.
a: being entirely without fault or defect
b: satisfying all requirements
c: corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept
Per this definition, you are not perfect. Nobody is. We all have weaknesses, physically, mentally, and socially. We don’t meet all expectations from our parents or society.
Not only that, but we can’t be perfect in this sense, that’s why we shouldn’t try to be.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be better. Quite the opposite.
You are (not) perfect
Accepting that we cannot be perfect removes the burden of striving to be perfect. It takes away the fear of making mistakes and allows us to learn from them. Which makes us better and better.
And we can realize that we are perfect the way we are. With all our flaws and weaknesses.
This is the paradox of human perfectness. We are already perfect the way we are, although we can’t meet the ideal concept of a perfect human being.
But what does this have to do with The Good System?
The perfect system?
Perfectionism prevents us from making the transition to The Good System. In several senses of the word.
- If we try to live perfectly sustainable and after the rules of The Good System, we can only fail.
- If we criticize people who do only some things good, we cannot make the needed alliances for the transition.
- People who criticize climate activists or system changers because they are not perfect, can demoralize us. And maybe worse, they hinder people to join the movement because they believe they can’t live up to the high standards.
You can’t live perfectly
To live perfectly sustainable is impossible in our current system. And it will be in The Good System.
Trying to do so is a burden in the fight against the climate crisis and for system change.
So much energy is needed to live to high sustainable standards that nothing is left to fight the system. Especially because the enemy doesn’t care at all. They put all their energy in providing the current system.
We have to accept that it is impossible to live as sustainable as we want in our current system and try it as good as possible without punishing ourselves.
Before I started this blog I tried to find the most sustainable webspace (affiliate link), WordPress theme, plugins and so on. It cost me weeks of research and more money, than if I wouldn’t care. I could have spent the time and money on starting this blog earlier.
Of course, you need to find a middle ground. I believe in the end it was a good investment of time and money. But often it isn’t. Especially because the enemy has more resources.
Something is better than nothing
Imagine someone posts something like this on social media:
I am vegan but from time to time I eat some cheese
What would the comments under the post be like?
I think most of them would be full of rage and hate. By the non-vegans, who are triggered whenever they see the v-word and even more so by vegans, who hate everyone, who isn’t fully committed to the cause.
But being mostly vegan is already excellent. And who knows, maybe the person is just a tiny step away from being completely vegan. All they need is perhaps the acknowledgment that they already came a long way and what they are doing is great.
Because being mostly vegan is healthy for you and the planet. If all of us were vegan and only ate animal products from time to time, it would help us enormously in the fight against the climate crisis. And it is much more reachable than being totally vegan.
To do one thing good is always better than doing nothing. Eating one vegan meal per week is better than none. Carpool is better than driving alone. Buying an organic cotton t-shirt is better than one made from plastic.
When you start doing something, you may do more. If you get encouragement for what you are doing, the chances are even higher.
Criticism as a weapon
Climate activists get criticized for everything they do, especially if it is harming the climate in the slightest.
For example, if they fly to a conference, or take the car to a protest, where they couldn’t get to without. Or if they simply are caught with food wrapped in plastic.
Don’t get me wrong, you are free to criticize it. But the criticism is mostly used to undermine climate activists. It’s a bot army propaganda weapon but also used by ordinary people searching for an excuse. They do not need to protect the climate because the activists are non-perfect frauds.
This is discouraging. Because most of the time, activists try to be as sustainable as possible. But occasionally, they need to do something that is contradictory to their cause for the greater good.
Maybe they need to fly to the conference because there is no other way to get there, and they can make a greater impact there than the damage they cause with the flight.
The enemy doesn’t care about their ecological footprint. They can take their private jet to several conferences a day and fight for their cause. This is a great advantage.
If activists have to take the train, they can’t be present to dismantle disinformation and influence decision makers.
The lobbyists for the current system have already more resources and an easier task. To keep everything as it is.
It’s counterproductive to make the job of climate activists even harder by criticizing them for the wrong things.
Of course, they must always consider the pros and cons, as everyone does. And they will do things wrong, as everyone does. This doesn’t mean everything they do is wrong. These double standards suck.
Good enough
When perfection is bad for us, what shall we do instead? The simple answer is not to try to be perfect because it is unreachable, but to be good enough.
This concept was developed for parenting by pediatrician Donald Winnicott. It shall help parents to develop distress tolerance and to free them from their unrealistic self-expectations of being a perfect parent. Which often ends in self-doubt and anger.
Building acceptance of being good enough instead of being perfect for ourselves and the society as a whole, would help us a lot.
We wouldn’t wait for the perfect time to do something, we wouldn’t try to make the perfect video before we publish it, and we wouldn’t search endlessly for the perfect partner, who doesn’t exist. It only needs to be good enough.
That doesn’t mean we can’t get better. Quite the opposite. It is good enough for the moment. Next time it is probably better. Because we only learn and get better when we do something. Waiting for the perfect moment doesn’t get us anywhere.
The perfect moment is right now because it is good enough.
Conclusion
Trying to be perfect not only doesn’t get us anywhere. It hinders us.
Especially in the fight against the climate crisis and for system change. The enemy doesn’t care about being perfectly sustainable and can use the resources, he didn’t waste in doing so, fighting activist.
Furthermore, they use the impossibility of being perfect to criticize and undermine climate activists and system changers.
As a thoughtful person, you always need to consider if the actions you take are worth it. And sometimes you need to do something harmful to achieve the greater good.
Especially since we live in an imperfect world, and we have to survive in a bad system. It is impossible to live sustainably, the current system prevents it.
The Good System will make it easy to live sustainably, and establish a society in which being good enough is perfect.
My name is Ian DeBay.
I am the founder of iandebay.com. I am a content creator, blogger, podcast, YouTuber. This is my blog where I talk about system change, sustainability and other fun stuff.
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