This idea (that man is perfectible and so should strive for perfection) has been around for 2,000 years, but it has lately been streamlined and turbo-charged: in its contemporary incarnation, it regards any unfulfilled human potentialities as a particularly sad and sclerotic form of entropy.
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From “Our Imperfect Search for Perfection” by Carina Chocano for the New York Times via K. Chu
I would add that the internet has made this worse as we no longer compare ourselves to the people in our immediate circle, but now we must grapple with the world at-large — where those people succeeding seem to outweight the failures and their self-created or society-created pedestals grow higher everyday.
On the flip (as in interpreting this as a good thing) — with the ability to see the successes of people seemingly similar to ourselves — we are buoyed in our own aspirations to do more, achieve more, work harder to realize our dreams to their full extent. If so and so can take an idea, run with it, and make it work - why can’t I? Perhaps pushing ourselves to achieve something that we wouldn’t do on our own.
Also, I am reminded that this all comes back to my Intro to Political Philosophy course that I took in 2004 - and the key question of our semester: “What is the good life?” A question that I never answered with any amount of satisfaction.
