Living Imperfectly

“It isn’t a perfect game.”  Quinn Snyder

Living Imperfectly

“I told him that we were going to run play for him and if he didn’t shoot the ball I was going to take him out of the game.”  Coach Snyder said.  “It isn’t a perfect game. And, you may not get a better shot, so you have to take the shot when you have it.”

My mind began to drift away, from those words coming through my radio, toward reflection.  I remembered one of the little sayings I repeated to my daughters, time and time again, as they were growing up.

“Life isn’t fair, don’t expect it to be.”  I’d say.

Perhaps I could have changed that to “life isn’t perfect?”  Or,  “Since not one of us is perfect, take the best shot you’re given?”

In today’s world of constant photo shooting and altering toward perfection, that advice seems completely wrong!  Have you ever noticed that most individual and family photos these days never get printed unless the subject(s) feel as if they’re the perfect shot?  Does such a practice perpetuate a myth of “life’s perfection?”

I keep a small, very old, family photo in a frame on a credenza in my family room.  It was taken when I was around six years old.  I love it precisely because is shows my cow licked hair, strangely held arms and my un-centered pants turned toward the right side of my body.  It reminds me that I was once just a goofy kid, filled with hopes of a wonderful future.  I’ve never met a single person that didn’t have such hopes.

                                                                                                

Does a continual belief in and presentation of false perfection destroy hope and dreaming?  Does a belief in living a perfect life destroy a person’s potential and opportunity?  I can remember many times of allowing the fear of possibly not achieving perfection to stop me from testing myself and pursuing opportunity.  Do you have such memories?

I also have a clear memory of living imperfectly.  I’m beginning to embrace and cherish it.  And, now I’ve come to realize that living imperfectly isn’t something to feel regretful of.  The game, life, is imperfect itself.  So, next time an opportunity to fulfill a dream opens in front of you, take your best shot!  After all, you may not get a better shot and any offered shot is much better than taking yourself out of the game!