Analysis of "Nobody Deserves to be Perfect"

A friend of mine shared a photo on Facebook with some text that caught my attention. Normally, I don't think too hard on these kind of motivational pictures; sometimes I think the sayings are cute, but ultimately they are merely platitudes with little context that could be applied to nearly any circumstance. However, this particular phrase got under my skin. I was going to simply comment on the picture, but (as usual) my thoughts well exceeded a reasonable Facebook comment (or post, for that matter). The phrase, which was taken from a larger text, is reproduced here:

"Nobody is perfect, and nobody deserves to be perfect. ..." 

 — Nytiesha Monta*

"Nobody deserves to be perfect." It's a bit flipped around—normally you are deserving of something when you are perfect, but this phrase is implying you have to deserve even the chance to be perfect. You could say you have to be meta-perfect to deserve to be perfect.

Before any discussion of the phrase can continue, we must answer the question, "What does perfect mean?" Are we talking morally, aesthetically (physical or otherwise), or ability (physical, mental, or other prowess)? Perhaps the author is suggesting nobody deserves a 'perfect life', which can mean any number of things, depending on culture, the socio-economic status, and each person's view on life—what one person may consider heaven is another's hell.

If we were to take 'someone is perfect' to mean a 'this person has a pleasurable and care-free life': Pessimistically, we could say because I am not perfect, you should not be perfect. This sentiment might reek of childish behavior, but it is one outlook on life. Optimistically, we can say, nobody is perfect because no one can be. Perfection is not about obtaining it, but is more of an aspiration we can strive towards. Yes, we will never reach it, but it is forever our goal to be. (Which is a lot more realistic sounding than I would like, but I've never been one to look on the bright side of things anyway.) A realist (middle ground between optimist and pessimist) might view this as a simple observation: "No one is perfect; deserving or not."


There is a serious difficulty with this statement if we do not consider what standard of perfection we are applying. Well, actually, there are three standards we are dealing with here! Or, at least, three applications of some standard.

First, how do we determine "nobody is perfect" (A)? What or who are we comparing to? Why is that our standard and not something else? The second standard is applicable to "nobody deserves to be perfect" (B). How do we determine who is qualified to be perfect? Not that this qualification implies perfection, mind you, merely that they could in theory have a claim perfection. Finally, we get to ask, "Is this person perfect?" (C) Again, we have to wrestle with who or what is our criterion for perfection. Notice we still have to examine this question even after we answered the first question.

The first question asks about all people—it makes the claim there does not exist a person who is perfect—which is different from our last question. The last question is only concerned with a particular person—not everybody. Furthermore, even if we find the first statement to be true, we can still find the third to be true as well. Only if we use the same perfection ideal in both questions does A's falsehood imply C's falseness ($\neg A\rightarrow \neg C$). Additionally, if we look at A in terms of 'objective perfection' (perfection independent of anything else, an inherent perfection) and C in 'subjective perfection' (perfection dependent on who or what is evaluating the person in question)—and vice-versa—we can easily arrive at the notion "nobody is perfect" and "this particular person is perfect".


As an aside, later the photo says to "pause before judging ... others." Stating "nobody is perfect" is, in fact, a judgement. It might be an accurate judgement, but it is a judgement nonetheless.


* Note: I don't know if this was the original author (I did find it on Facebook, after all), but considering there was no attribution, I will cite Monta as the author.