<p>Hi CCers!
I saw a thread like this a while back, and I want to revive it. I'll post an essay, and I'll grade whoever responds with their essay.</p>
<p>Prompt:
Is perfection something to be admired or sought after? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations</p>
<p>Perfectionism is harmful when the goal is pleasing others. Living to satify others to the utmost, and chaning your identiy people some people may be uncomfortable with it is a recipe for disaster. Two prominet examples, Mohandas Gandhi, and Pip, in Great Expectations provide literary and historical examples to support this claim.</p>
<p>When Gandhi arrived in England to obtain his law degree, he experienced a culture shock. He tried his best to become an "English Gentlemen" taking elocution, dancing, and violin classes. He purchased a fine black suit, and asked his brother to send him a gold watch to enhance his appearance. Gandhi did everything in his capacity to please others by assimilating into society. The result was that Gandhi was deeply unhappy. He constantly compared himself to others, and felt inadequate. When he abandoned his drive to please others, he started to live frugally, and became a much happier, healthier person.</p>
<p>A second example can be seen in Dickens' literary classic, Great Expectations. Pip, a humble country boy, becomes despondent and unhappy when he desperately tries to fit in with his upper class neighbors, the Havishams, He begins to fell ashamed of his own rugged home and surroundings, and tries to improve his speech and appearance. He becomes almost obsessed with this pursit, unable to think of anything else.Pip never experiences a moment of happiness until he abandons the desire to please others. Instead, Pip is able to feel happy as himself.</p>
<p>Perfectionism can be double- edged sword. When used for shallow goals such as changing your identity to assimilate, it ends in despondency for the pursuer. However, when it is devoted to embracing your identity to make change, it can change the underpinnings of society. Gandhi's pursuit of truth and non-violence led to the independence of India, and inspired others, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela to do the same.</p>