What petrifies all perfectionists?
The raggedy wide-brimmed pointed hat was shoved aggressively onto the frizzly mop of hair belonging to a nervous teenager. As the adolescent boy squirmed in his seat, he suddenly let out a yelp of terror as he realized that the hat was enchanted and alive.
“Get me off of this youngling!” croaked the wrinkly enchanted hat as its two leathery neck straps writhed around like defiant tentacles.
“Have I not made myself clear, that I unequivocally denounce ever again using my powers of sorting! Don’t look at me with those confused and dumbfounded eyes. I am trying to tell all of you, numbskulls, that I absolutely refuse to make another judgement on whether another adolescent is going to end up being a good or bad wizard.”
Staring disapprovingly at the hat was a short pale man with horn-rimmed glasses. He spoke with a hushed and icy whisper.
“But how will the ministry know which teens are responsible enough to keep their powers and use them for good in the future? We can’t just let all of them keep their powers and assume none of them will use it for evil. It is the ministry’s duty to sterilize the “at risk” adolescents of their powers before they have the chance to wreak havoc on our magical world.”
“But I have failed!” wailed the distraught hat as large beads of tears formed in the 2 creases that resembled the faint lines of his eyes. “I was the one who declared Alastair Silvius to be a ‘good wizard’ 20 years ago. But I was wrong! He has become one of the most wicked villains of our time! I do not deserve to live! Incinerate me so I never make that same mistake again!”
Many of us are like this enchanted hat. We may judge people as being either good or bad. But this simplistic black and white perspective to seeing the world, blinds us from being able to recognize that real people don’t fit so neatly into these restrictive categories. And when we are not able to accept these human outliers, we are also not able to accept ourselves as well. The only way to free ourselves from this mental check-mate is by seeing and accepting that everyone has both good and bad qualities; including ourselves.
