The most fertile ground for growth is often found in the cracks of imperfection.
Note: 1140 words – Completed in 1 h 34 minutes (brainstorming + writing) – typed version with minor grammatical edits made (originally handwritten on 11 September, 2024)
His army was tiny. A few hundred men compared to several thousands. The battle seemed lost even before it had begun. When it began, his army was thoroughly defeated and forced to retreat. The condition of his soldiers was far from ideal to attempt another attack. And yet, this commander picked up the broken pieces, rallied his men, and charged again. This time, he won. Despite the overwhelming odds, he won. He was Babur. He had just defeated the Lodis in the 1st Battle of Panipat, ended the Delhi Sultanate, and established the mighty Mughal Empire in India.
This story of Babur is a prime example of how the most fertile ground for growth can be found in imperfect conditions. With his soldiers bruised & battered, Babur could have chosen to turn back and return home. Yet, he embraced the challenging conditions and fought on, changing the course of Indian history itself.
Why is it that humanity tends to search for ideal conditions – perfection before doing anything? It is due to a deeply rooted aversion to risks. We are filled with insecurities, fears, and countless imagined scenarios of what could go wrong. Our minds concoct various narratives to convince us to stay in our safe comfort zones. The challenges in front of us seem too overwhelming, so we decide to postpone our actions to a future date – when conditions will be perfect to start. Whether it be a student preparing for an exam, an entrepreneur pondering a new venture, or a government contemplating a new policy, our minds come up with elaborate excuses to wait until conditions are perfect.
However, this perfection is a myth. It will never come. Like an asymptote in mathematics, which the values in a graph approach but never reach, perfection is also elusive. No matter how much we try, no matter how close we think we are to perfection, there will always be room for some improvement.
Alright, so we have established that perfection is impossible. What do we do then? Should we give up?
Of course not. The solution lies in embracing imperfection. These cracks of imperfection may appear at first to be flaws that are dangerous enough to sabotage our efforts. However, upon closer analysis, we realize that they are actually the breeding ground for growth. These cracks are opportunities to fill & strengthen the weaknesses we have and emerge stronger.
The reason why these imperfections are the ideal ground for growth is simply that they provide problems. What is a life without problems & challenges to overcome? The absence of challenges makes life dull & boring. Hence, these imperfections offer a chance to work on our desired goals despite the issues, and grow immensely through the process.
These imperfections provide scope for change. At the stroke of the midnight hour on August 15, 1947, when Jawaharlal Nehru proclaimed that India had awoken to life & freedom, India faced a mountain of challenges. An economy crippled by centuries of systematic colonial drain, a population suffering from extreme poverty, illiteracy, & hunger, and troublesome border issues threatened to nip India’s story in the bud. India could have given up. The situation was hopeless – far from ideal.
And yet, we did not. Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon tirelessly travelled around the country – uniting the 565+ princely states into one nation. As a war raged in Jammu & Kashmir, our Constitution makers toiled relentlessly to lay our nation’s unshakeable foundations. Despite the widespread illiteracy & lack of education, we took the risk of adopting universal adult franchise and democracy, placing immense trust in the same Indian masses who had fought for India’s independence. From this turmoil, the India that we know today emerged – bruised, but not battered, striving for betterment each day.
In the 1980s, the global community was faced with a rapidly worsening issue – the ozone hole. The thinning of the ozone layer spelled certain doom for the residents of our planet, threatening cancer to humans & widespread damage to all life forms on Earth. Humanity could have waited for ideal conditions – better technology, more funding, more public support, and slow bilateral negotiations between countries. Yet, we collectively decided to embrace the imperfections, and act quickly instead of waiting for the situation to worsen. World leaders gathered in Montreal, discussed, negotiated, & adopted the Montreal Protocol, and put it into effect. Within a few years of sustained global efforts to ban the use of Ozone-Depleting Substances (ODS) and R&D efforts to find alternatives, progress was seen. The ozone hole started repairing itself.
Such efforts were also replicated to combat an even larger threat – climate change. Although not as effective, countless conferences, meetings, & negotiations were conducted, such as the Rio Earth Summits, UNFCCC COPs, the Paris Agreement, and progress was made on global efforts to mitigate & adapt to climate change.
This journey of growing by embracing imperfections is not limited to countries or the global community. Various leaders & visionaries throughout history have proven it. A glittering example is the entrepreneur Elon Musk. When he started SpaceX, he was faced with innumerable constraints, including limited funding, limited staff, limited technology, and a monopoly on space research & missions by NASA. Yet, instead of succumbing to these overwhelming pressures & multiple launch failures, he kept on learning. Each rocket that exploded on the launch pad or soon after launch gave him the motivation to carry on. He eventually succeeded – pioneered reusable launch vehicle technology, partnered with NASA & other space agencies for launches, and is now the richest man in the world.
India’s Paralympic athletes are another shining example of embracing imperfection. To most people, having a disability seems like a permanent crippling of future hopes & aspirations. However, India’s Paralympic athletes did not let their disabilities hold them back, kept training despite limited facilities & funds, and shone at the highest stage in the Paris Paralympics 2024 – winning a record number of medals & making India proud.
In a world where waiting for the right moment and perfect conditions is the norm, we have seen how great people, countries, and communities do the unthinkable. Instead of kneeling before the insurmountable odds before them, they stand up tall, roaring back at the challenges. Through this process, they not only discover themselves, grow and achieve their goals & dreams, but they also inspire countless others.
Since perfection is imaginary & problems are permanent, embracing imperfections is the only way forward for humans and humanity itself. By doing this, we can make it the norm – allowing people to act rather than simply worry about possible difficulties. This gives us hope of tackling the major problems affecting us all – such as climate change, poverty, inequality, corruption, terrorism, and wars. We must cherish and act on this priceless quality of humanity – to keep going even when it seems hopeless.
