A Perfect World

What are your thoughts about perfection? I think perfection has to do with viewpoint or, better yet, your point of view. Think about a piece of cloth or a magnificent painting. Think about the Mona Lisa or some other great painting. Standing back from the Mona Lisa, the painting looks perfect. Artists and critics from around the world have proclaimed the beauty and perfection of the Mona Lisa. The use of color and form in this painting are considered to be examples of perfection in art.

Think about a piece of cloth. Looking at the cloth in your hands, it looks perfect. The color is uniform. As you look closer, you can see the weave of the cloth. The weave looks uniform. Each stitch is perfectly square. Or is it?

If you get close enough to the Mona Lisa or a piece of cloth, your viewpoint changes. If you use a magnifying glass or a microscope, your view changes even more. The perfection of the Mona Lisa begins to change. We can see areas where Leonardo da Vinci's brush strokes blurred lines or merged colors. If we get close enough, we can see that the Mona Lisa is anything but perfect.

It is the same with a piece of cloth. The closer we examine the cloth, the easier it is to see the imperfections. Each square of the weave is not exact. Tiny fibers are shooting in every direction. The perfection was a hoax. As soon as we get close enough, we see nothing but imperfection.

This is also true of life. The human condition is such that we tend to examine everything as if we were using a magnifying glass or a microscope. It is easy for all of us to see all the imperfections of life. We question natural disasters and premature death. We question why bad things happen to good people. We question why some people seem so incredibly successful while others who work just as hard barely get by. Maybe we see the imperfection because we are looking too close.

Remember the definition of success? "Success is making progress toward a worthwhile goal." As you move forward in your quest for loyal customers that will buy from you again and again and be delighted to tell others about your excellent goods and services, view your mistakes from a distance and view your successes up close.

There are no accidents in life. Everything that happens in this world happens for good reason. If a scientist examines an automobile crash site, she can account for every cause and effect that culminated in the crash. The weight, speed, and direction of the automobile in relation to the actions of the driver produce a result defined by physics that can only be a crash. It wasn't an accident to the universe. The only thing that could happen was The crash. The crash was an accident in terms of the driver's intent, but the universe understands that, based on the conditions, the crash was inevitable. Nothing else besides a crash could happen.

The perfection of our world is based in the nature of cause and effect. No cause occurs without an effect. This perfection exists in our every endeavor. We may not be able to account for and trace the result, or effect, of our every activity but our universe recognizes our every effort. The butterfly effect taught in rudimentary physics classes tells the story of a butterfly in Africa. When the butterfly moves its wings, it sets the surrounding air in motion. Even this minuscule effect has some impact on America, thousands of miles away. While we may not be able to feel the effect of this movement, it is still there.

The lesson of the butterfly teaches that every cause has an effect. The size and power of the cause determines the effect. A very small cause will have a very small effect, but no matter how small, there will be an effect. No cause goes with out effect. In our lives no effort goes without reward. Sometimes our efforts may not be noticed and we may never be able to account for them, but they still have effect. You and I cannot put forth effort in creating customer loyalty and not have an effect. However, like all other human endeavors, our commitment, passion, and persistence will determine our results. Our effectiveness is a function of our effort: It begins and ends with a belief in our customers and ourselves.