Why You Should Embrace The Beauty Of Imperfections

In traditional Japanese aesthetics there is a philosophy known as wabi-sabi, which states that beauty is reflected in impermanence, incompleteness, and imperfection: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is forever. I think that’s pretty beautiful, and something that might help you considering I completely destroyed your beautiful new house while you were out of town this weekend.

I mean this thing has just been ravaged by my poor decision making, it would be kind of impressive in a different context.

Anyway, as I was saying, everything will inevitably become imperfect, and that should be embraced. Like how the massive party I threw to celebrate my buddy Dooley getting out of his medically induced coma was quickly overrun by his buddies from the backyard wrestling league. You know the one they run in that church basement?

Something else that is imperfect is our relationship as brothers-in-law, which has been strained since I moved in a few months ago at my sister’s behest. Like the bending river in the forest, it will ebb and flow, our relationship will surely twist and turn. Especially if you kick me out. It’s in trying times like these that we need family more than ever.

An ornate Japanese vase, though having been broken into shards, is viewed as being even more aesthetically pleasing when it’s glued back together. The same thing can be said for your flat screen television. A few of us smoked some K2 and we tried to look up some trippy visuals on Youtube, but ended up accidentally turning on the Nancy Meyer’s film “Something’s Gotta Give” with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, which freaked us the fuck out. So we decided to beat the shit out of your T.V. with a pair of soccer cleats. Then, this morning, I haphazardly reassembled it with scotch tape before you got home. Ah, gaze upon your television — so immaculate in its suffering.

In our culture, we are taught to relentlessly strive for perfection. Whether that’s the pursuit of having a home that has no broken windows, or the pursuit of having a home that isn’t actively on fire. You are free from these burdensome shackles, brother-in-law, because you no longer have either of those things. When I finally asked everyone to leave your house, they decided to “take the party outside” by throwing full coolers of beer through your closed windows. The kitchen was my fault, admittedly. I tried to make a pizza and forgot to take it out of the plastic wrap and also the cardboard box and also I fell asleep while making it. And I left the fire going because I thought you would probably want to put it out yourself. I know how territorial you can get about things like that.

You may have spent fifteen grand on building your “dream kitchen” but now you must accept that it is charred to a crisp. If a phoenix can rise from the ashes, why can’t your custom granite backsplash?

Wabi-sabi encourages all of us to focus on the blessings hiding in our daily lives. Like how today is your birthday. Even though you insist that I’ve “ruined your birthday” this year, I will continue to celebrate the day and you, your myriad of faults and all. I know I “ruined your birthday” last year by driving your brand new Nissan Leaf in a demolition derby and getting my ass pummelled. You kept screaming that I had “no business driving in that demolition derby as much as an electric car has no business participating in one.” And I suppose that was the relentless pursuit of perfection rearing its ugly head once more, wouldn’t you say?

I just don’t understand why you’re so angry, you should be grateful — your home is now a bastion of wabi-sabi!

Asymmetric, in that we left profound damage to the foundation after the boys from the wrestling league decided to put on an impromptu no-holds-barred “ladders only” match in the basement.

Simplistic, in that all of my sister’s jewelry is now gone forever, traveling from pawn shop to pawnshop at the speed of business.

Intimate, in that a majority of your house is largely uninhabitable due to the creatures of the forest that have laid claim to the majority of your rooms with their urine. Also your dryer is filled with hornets.

With my help, I have liberated you from a material world and guided your transcendence to a simpler life! You’ll have a quieter mind, especially when you’ve finally screamed yourself hoarse. You’ll be relaxed, tranquil, harmonious, like me; a man who is so in touch with the rhythms of the universe that he won’t even bring up the fifty bucks you reluctantly promised him for house sitting. Honestly, I’m so relaxed, I probably won’t even bug you about it until tomorrow.

Happy birthday, big guy. I mean it.

Related posts:

My first idea is to create a series of stamps that layer to make one print. I haven’t finished developing the print yet, but I’d like to give the finished piece to my step mother, and she really…