Perfect People
Cheryl offers: I was driving down Northwest Highway the other day and saw a sign outside a Methodist church that read “No perfect people allowed.” I was struck by the simplicity of the message immediately. And then I remembered all the times I might have thought I qualified for that category of perfect people. Ouch! Over my lifetime, I would guess it’s happened more than I’d ever want to admit. And I must confess, it seemed to have happened at an early age. My mother loves to tell the story of my first day of school. When she asked how I liked it she swears I replied, “It was OK, but I’m not going back until all those other kids catch up with me.” I believe she was so astounded at my answer that it never occurred to her to teach me a much needed immediate lesson in humility.
I’ve read a lot of books over the years and most of them have been about leadership. I have learned the value of practicing humility regularly and to remind myself frequently that is it a necessary ingredient to a more peaceful and purposeful life. While the title of the book is somewhat ironic given their current economic woes, I’m reminded of the words from If Aristotle Ran General Motors by Tom Morris. “There is nothing noble in being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.” Somewhere in this quote I get the sense this means there are no perfect human beings and being able to embrace that thought brings its own sense of nobility. I’d like to think so because it means there might be hope for me yet!
