Perfect

“'Cuz we lost it all
Nothing lasts forever
I'm sorry
I can't be perfect
Now it's just too late and
We can't go back
I'm sorry
I can't be perfect”

Perfect – Simple Plan

Simple Plan are the target of a lot of criticism, and most of it is justifiable. They are said to be whiny, over dramatic, immature and simplistic in their music. While catchy at times, their songs haven’t really moved forward throughout the years and it’s all a bit repetitive. I agree with these points, and have mostly moved on from listening as obsessively as I did during my early teenage years. There’s the odd guilty pleasure from their first album and I can’t fault their latest on the catchiness factor. But, in my opinion, Simple Plan have bought out two songs throughout their career which are the only songs I have heard stand up and say what no other artist has yet managed to. Song one is today's blog and the second song is the topic of next week's post.  

Amongst Simple Plan fun, pop rock tracks on their first album No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls was Perfect, and it became one of their biggest hits. When it came out when I was about 12 years old and entering that awkward teenage stage of life where everything seemed tough. I remember hearing this song in year seven and taking it to heart and for the past ten years Perfect has been my favourite song. It has average backing music, an average lead singer and is in an average genre, but the best message I’ve heard.

Finally, someone had stood up and said “I’m not perfect”. And that’s not easy to admit. Making mistakes, coming anything but first and not being the favourite is tough to stomach. I grew up doing competitive sport and I hated not winning. I hated going through school and failing assignments. And I hated disappointing others because I just wasn’t able to reach perfection. But Simple Plan got the message across – there are other people who are looking for you to be perfect, and they disapprove when you can’t make it. It’s not through a lack of trying or a lack of will power, but simply because getting to that level of perfection, no matter how hard we push ourselves, is beyond what is capable for this one person.

I don’t believe in perfection.  And I’m not sorry I don’t. I think the problem society has is we are so busy striving for this perfection we think mistakes and failure are the epitome of terribleness. I make mistakes every single day – in my working life, with my social circle, in decisions and in justifications and actions. And I have failed more times than I can count. But from these mistakes and failures I have learned and grown and tried hard not to make the same errors again. These lessons, coupled with drive and a trying nature to do the best we can, is far more beneficial to us than attempting to gain perfection and crawling away defeated when we can’t reach it.