Perfect grades. Perfect friends. Perfect appearance. Perfect seems to be woven in every designer jacket and blends with the ink that will form the A on the report card. It is hidden in the words of your parents’ approval and it is reflected in the mirror along with the image of a fit body.
As a senior in high school, it seems like perfect is all anyone wants me to be. The perfect student for my parents, the perfect friend for my peers and the perfect appearance for society. And to be quite frank, it is exhausting, because no matter how many note–cards I make, hugs I give and hours I put in at the gym, I will never reach their expectations.
So why do we do this to ourselves? Is it because of the false examples of flawless bodies that we see from celebrities? Or is it due to the plots of unrealistic movies where some girl who was failing all her classes somehow turned her life around and got into Harvard?
It seems like we are all living some lie and pretending that we can someday reach perfection. I am not saying that striving to be the best you can be is wrong. In fact, it is something I believe that we all should do. But trying to be flawless in life can lead to dangerous things like eating disorders and even depression.
As a girl, I feel like the pressure to be perfect is even greater. I find myself dressing and acting a certain way just so I can be accepted.
But then I started to think. If we are alive and put on this earth– at this very moment we must all be important in some way. Therefore, being who we are is being perfect, and that is one thing that we can all be perfect at. I can strive to be who I am, and nobody else can be perfect at that except for me.
 
– Allison Davis, Layout Editor