What is the difference between Great and Perfect? Both express something well-done, accomplished and desired. But doesn’t perfect sound more impressive? If somebody asked me this question a year ago I would immediately say “Yes.” Today, I’ll take my time to answer this question.
What is perfect? Something precisely shaped, cleared-up, completed or something that has never been touched. An excellent example of perfection is a completely solved Rubik’s Cube: each side of it has a solid color; every piece is in the right place. When people look at it they certainly think it must be hard to solve the cube. And the person who actually managed to solve it is intelligent, too. But what if it is a brand new Rubik’s Cube and nobody actually touched it? What if somebody hit that toy so it broke down into tiny pieces and then was put back together? It doesn’t sound impressive anymore, right? And one more thing: when this cube is done, it’s done. It can’t be anything more than a completely solved tricky toy.
When I came to the United States I was similar to a new Rubik’s Cube: precisely shaped, with solid colors on each side.
My path in American High School started on August 28th, 2012. That was the first twist of my Rubik’s cube. I thought I knew the language but I didn’t. I got my first zero for math homework on my birthday because I couldn’t understand what the task was. I was scared of those sudden changes and tried to put myself back in “right order”. That was the worst thing I could to myself. Forced resistance to natural changes will never bring any benefits.
Then I became Sunshine instead of Gerel. I used a translation of my real name as a nickname because it was hard for people to remember my name. That was another twist. Quite pleasant one, yet it had an enormous impact on me. As time went by I started realizing that Gerel and Sunshine are so different. The girl that stays up until three in the morning doing homework is definitely is not Sunshine. But the girl that follows the rule Be proactive, not reactive is certainly not Gerel. Sometimes I think that Sunshine has the best of what Gerel could ever possibly have but if Gerel wasn’t hardworking and stubborn enough Sunshine would never show up. They are both not perfect and this is what makes them great. They fill for each other and it happens naturally. They both change a lot as time goes by and this is what makes no restrictions for them in their ambitions. Getting into whole different environment made me look at things and events from another perspective. Not the other, but another.
After all twists and turns that happened to me, the motto of my life transformed into a poem by Leonard Cohen:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.
Rosalynn Carter said one day, “Once you accept the fact that you’re not perfect, then you develop some confidence.” Today I can say that I accept myself and everybody around as a bright and twisted more than a hundred times the Rubik’s Cube. And I think that’s great. Perfect doesn’t need anything. Perfect doesn’t need anybody. We do. We need our friends and families. We need to move forward. And we don’t have to cross any borders or go over any limits to be great, because only perfection has certain limits; greatness does not.
By Yeshkeyeva, Garel – FLEX Alumna’13
