Audit Time and the Crunch is On

Sometimes it seems your ever-increasing list of things to do can leave you feeling totally undone. --Susan Mitchell and Catherine Christie, I'd Kill for a Cookie

 It's audit time here....and a surprise one, no less.  Anyone who has ever worked in a social service agency knows what that means and the stress it can cause.  All of our work will be under the magnifying glass, and we will be walking around on pins and needles.  In fact, that part of it has already begun. Yesterday was one of the most hellish days I have had since I began working here. To begin with, the boiler is broken.  Not that it is off; no, it is far from it.  It blasts heat, and there is no way to regulate it. Imagine it being 25 degrees outdoors, and you have the window wide open and the air conditioning on high, and still you are hot...  

...and then there is the nit-picking to deal with.  That's the worst.  The bosses become so anxious and want everything to be perfect, so they find all these little things that aren't really wrong and insist that you change them, a date here, a word or two there...and by the end of the day, your head is spinning, your clothing disheveled, your hair flying this way and that way.  Why, one of my clients came for his session at 4 pm, and his first question when he saw me was "Are you all right?  What happened?"  It was then I discovered that my mascara had run, and I looked like I had a black eye.  It's about this time that  you begin to question yourself, "Is it all really worth it?", and you wonder about the next day....and doing it all again...And the truth of the matter is, it is all for naught.  The auditors are going to find something wrong no matter what you do.  That is what they are paid to do...

...and the truth of the matter is, imperfection is a fact of life; there is no such thing as perfection.  In fact, I think it would be a pretty boring world if everything and everyone in it was perfect.   I'm not saying that I am happy with everything there is, and if I had my way there would be no more hunger and wars and killing and destruction of the planet.  What I am saying is that, if we as human beings had nothing to strive for, what would we do?  We certainly would have no need to read because there would be nothing for us to learn.  My job, as well as all of the others in the helping professions, would be eliminated because with everyone perfect, there'd be no one out there to help.  As I always say, without the darkness there could be no light.  In other words, would truly not enjoy our perfection because we'd have nothing to compare it to. 

Think about it.  Everyone would be essentially the same. We would all have the same opinions, look pretty much the same and act the same. There would be no variety, no color and no debate.  If we were all perfectly happy with the hand that we had been dealt there would be no ambition or progress,  and it is these factors that allow us to integrate, discover and grow.

Human imperfection is the sum of our whole; it is what makes each of us unique. It is our imperfections that  keep us alive and instill a desire for better things, a desire to learn, and we need to learn all the lessons that life can possibly offer us. If we were perfect, all we would do would be to quietly enjoy our perfection; there would be no need to create anything new. Accepting our imperfections and limitations simply means accepting ourselves as we are.  Acknowledging our limitations as well as our abilities will lead to the realization of our human spirit and help us to reach our full potential.

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur
when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.
For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort,
that we are likely to step out of our ruts
and start searching for different ways
or truer answers.

~ M. Scott Peck ~