Ethan+O’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016


 *  Perfection **

Imagine what it would be like to be the only person in the world. Now, apart from the loneliness and trying to survive, imagine how you would feel about yourself. You could hate yourself, or you could feel like everything about you was perfect. But either way, would you be wrong? No one is around to say differently and you’re the only one that has an opinion on the matter, so how could you be? The idea of perfection, or of imperfection, is, just that; an idea, fabricated by human beings, and only exists based on human interpretation. It is a very powerful idea that can be easily manipulated and changed. If everyone - or almost everyone - were to decide that being perfect was having brown hair, then that is what it would be. Throughout history, people have manipulated this idea to get what they want, and the concept of perfection constantly changes. Growing up, kids often rely on this image of perfection fit in and feel better about themselves, following the latest trends and dressing in the most fashionable style to gain the attraction of more people; Hollywood producers extort the image of perfection in their movies to get more money; the “perfect body” of the 50’s was much different than it is now; and dictators and leaders even use the idea of perfection to bend people to their wills; Adolf Hitler was able to convince people to commit mass genocide in progression towards, what he considered the “perfect race”. So why do we often spend so much effort trying to live up to other people’s ideas of perfection when it’s so manipulated and meaningless that it constantly changes from generation to generation? Being the social creatures we are, we obviously want to fit in with everyone, and to feel accepted. If not, it’s often hard to make connections and bond with other people, an essential part of our lives. It’s instinctual for humans to follow the examples of others around them. Maybe a long time ago, when humans lived in tribes, this instinct would have been useful. A tribe of 30 or so people would be much more close knit if they all had the same ideas of how they should act, and this way they could avoid conflict among themselves. However, we don’t live in tribes and, with our modern lifestyle of industrialized nations and massive populations, most of our instincts are often useless. Including our desire to live up to other people’s ideas of perfection. The America I want to grow up in is one where everyone’s perfect. Not where we all meet the constantly changing standards of perfection of everyone else. But where everyone lives up to their own standards of perfection. If we live in a way we consider to be perfect, then who’s to say otherwise, it’s our concept, and only we can change it, so why should we base our opinions about ourselves on the opinions of everyone else?