The word perfect is imperfect. Oh, a pitcher can throw a perfect game in baseball getting all 27 outs in a row, but during his perfection, he does miss the strike zone with some of his pitches which makes him an imperfect pitcher throwing a perfect game. A student might achieve a perfect score on the SAT test, but it has been proven that some of the answers given by the test makers were actually incorrect, thereby attaining a perfect score is flawed because the student gave the wrong answer to one or more questions.

We use this word freely and incorrectly. We speak or write the word because we have a need to get to the highest level of achievement where there are no flaws, errors or mistakes.

“Perfect” is an expression we use with romantic exaggeration. In Ed Sheeran’s song titled by this word, he sings, “When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath. But you heard it darling, you look perfect tonight.”

The late reggae singer Bob Marley was once asked if the perfect woman existed. He replied, “Who cares about perfection? Even the moon is not perfect. It’s full of craters. And the sea? It’s too salty and dark in the depths. The sky? Always so infinite, that is, the most beautiful things are not perfect, they are special. Stop wanting to be perfect. Try to be free, happy and live doing what you love, not wanting to please others.”

Still, we love to be told the dinner we cooked was perfect, the weather yesterday was perfect and a task we completed was done perfectly. Joachim Stoeber, professor of psychology at the University of Kent, describes perfectionism as a “double edged sword.”

“On one hand, perfectionism can be motivating,” he says. “It can help us to feel determined, to fight for our goals and make the sacrifices necessary to progress in our training and competition performance. On the other hand, perfectionism can fuel our inner critic. It can keep us focused on our shortcomings and blind us to any progress we’ve made along the way.”

In an article by Jenn Hand, she writes, “The reality is that striving for perfection holds us back. We spend so much time doing, striving, achieving, in an endless quest to get it all ‘perfect,’ and we end up missing out on what life is really about: being in each moment and experiencing life where we are, as we are.”

I think of the iconic singer, Karen Carpenter. To me and to millions of others, her voice was just perfect in every song she sang; however, she never felt that way. She kept doing retakes when she sang a new song in the studio and even after she finally gave in to the recording, she still wasn’t satisfied. And we all know that she never thought she was pretty enough or thin enough and at the young age of 32, she died when her heart gave out from starving her body too many times.

Yet we strive to not only win, but get the perfect score.

Our valiant efforts are rarely rewarded because of unreachable expectations. Author Dean Koontz wrote, “The saddest thing in the world was that humans, for all their ardent striving and desire, could never achieve physical, emotional, or intellectual perfection; it thrashed forever in despair or denial of that fact.”

Author Ray Bradbury wrote, “You can’t want to become perfect. You got to go out and fall down and get up with everybody else.”

Is striving for perfection worth it if you only can achieve the inevitable disappointment? Olympic athletes train vigorously for four years and set their sights on winning the gold medal, but have to leave their fate in the eyes of a group of international judges. Figure skaters and synchronized swimmers will infrequently attain a perfect score of ten, but there again, that perfect score has been awarded through a human’s subjective and imperfect evaluation.

Accepting imperfection might bring us the best chance to be happy. American novelist Lev Grossman writes, “For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, and you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.”

I believe that women have an extra pressure to beautiful, to be supermoms while at the same time they climb career ladders. Design director Selina Petosa writes, “Striving for perfection is a common theme among women - one that society has ingrained early on through stereotypes, culture, and media. Instead of being encouraged to fail, explore, and enjoy the journey, girls and women are expected, even, encouraged, not to share their ideas until they are perfected and ready for presentation … this syndrome hinders women’s ability to grow and lead with confidence, contributing to the gender gap that is improving, but far from equal.”

Perfection is an imaginary goal we may all seek at some point of our lives. American journalist Jeannette Walls claims it’s too much of a futile endeavor.

“Nobody’s perfect,” she says, “We are all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.”

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com.