A little boy wants to join the circus. His parents take him to the ringleader willingly, and he asks to join the Flying Santini Brothers. The ringleader asks the boy a series of questions including “are you brave?” and “are you nimble?” and “are how agile are you” each of which followed by a small test. This little boy passes all three tests, until the last one. The little boy ended up pushing himself a little too hard, trying to be perfect, and gets an injury. I connected a little bit, because I tend to push myself as far as possible, sometimes too far. I’m very ambitious and I don’t want to miss out on anything, so even if I know I should stop, I usually do as much as I can and then stop. I would recommend this story, as it is short and gives a good lesson. I think that the author is trying to say that it is okay to push ourselves to try for something we want and believe in, but sometimes it is okay to protect ourselves when we know we’ve pushed ourselves too far. I think part of this relates to Israeli society in that teens growing up in Israel tend to try really hard to get into certain parts of the IDF, and sometimes they will push themselves as hard as they can to get into that unit. I think that sometimes tend to have a similar ideal that I do, in pushing farther than they should in order to achieve their dream job. I think that this story could be considered Israeli culture for the same reason as stated above. I think that in general, Israelis have a tendency to fight for what they believe is right as long and as hard as they possibly can.
-Rachael Coleman
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ReplyDeleteThe push for perfection is definitely a problem in modern society, no doubt in Israel as well. We all desperately want to be the best at what we do, but most of the time that just isn't feasible. I honestly don't know much about Israeli teenagers, but in America that will to perfection is a huge problem, in high-performing schools especially. Teenagers face so much pressure to exceed their classmates that school becomes an arena rather than a place of learning, and as a result, most of us get injured in some way from it.
ReplyDelete-Noah Arnold
I agree that perfection is a tremendous problem in not only American or Israeli society, but in the global society. In a world driven by competition, it is difficult to define oneself by personal ability, and not by the abilities and achievements of others.
ReplyDeleteI can see how perfectionism would be a problem in Israeli society. Israel constantly has to change and develop to be better, more perfect, than the countries that would wish it demolished. The problem is that if we, as individuals, or Israel, as a country, stop striving for perfection, the results may well be more painful than any pain too much perfectionism can cause.