Perfectionism part 4
In this last entry reflecting on perfectionism, I found myself thinking about the history of perfectionism and the pursuit of excellence.
I want to lift up the voice of Wendy from Ditch Perfect. While Wendy points out the connection of perfectionism and white supremacy to 1795 you can go even further back and look at Leo Africanus in the 1500s and his description of African people that led to justification of slavery in American of Africans. Fast forward you had Christian’s usage of Noah’s curse (Curse of Ham) to explain why some people have dark skin and further cement Blacks as made to be servants. There is an uncomfortable truth that ties this concept of whites being perfect, their culture and ways being the norm and default in America that still exists today. Sadly, it is so engrained that it is called norm and accusations towards any other idea is fought over with fury.
That led me to think about excellence. Many times it feels like excellence is used to mask perfectionism. I know that I use the term excellence, but when I setup ways to measure it, I tend to lean towards describing perfectionism. I desire to one day include imperfection in my definition of excellence. To acknowledge that you can be excellent and make mistakes.
