on the way to perfection (a preface)

first and foremost, i would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who have set aside some of their precious time to read my callow short fiction. especially on top of this list of gratitude are the people who have spent even more time to point out the careless and awkward sentence constructions that i have incurred. constructive criticisms and comments are always appreciated and i thank you for helping me grow as a writer.

moving forward, i would like to explain the popular comment of the use of verbose (bombastic) words in my little essay. the obvious reason to this is because i am currently preparing for an absurd yet intense graduate school entrance examination, the infamous GRE. this exam tests the brightest of minds on the depths of their vocabulary as well as their mathematical skills. in the event that one of these sharp minds manages to achieve a perfect score, answering all questions correctly, he/she would still be able to obtain only a score of 96% to balance the general test-taker's bell curve. THAT, in my opinion, is why the examination is absurd. in addition to the exam, i found that i have a profound fascination to deepen the depths of my vocublary (as deep as the marinara trench i hope!). thus, i actually find all this learning and improving enjoyable. also, on the issue of writing without caps, of course i know sentences start with capital letters but this is my writing space, my respite from work, i wish to keep it the way i like it. maybe, maybe in the future, if/when i write for a publication, i would conform to this rule of writing.

in writing Perfection, i began the first sentence without any idea of how it would end. the main theme of the story, however, had always been there from the start and then skulking like a shadowy figure throughout the story until the very end. this theme, is of course as many of you have picked up from reading, of shallowness and greed. i feel that these elements have plagued humanity since the dawn of time. from the display of brute strength (shallowness) to win potential mates to digging for precious metals as a symbol of power and status (greed) eventually leading to countries warring with one another for even more metals and other precious commodities such as spices/land space/oil. shallowness leads to greed which is so prevalent in everyone of us. each of us are greedy to varying degrees and all of us strive for perfection, always never satisfied, be it the student who wants to score a perfect A, the mother who struggles to provide the perfect life for her child or the monk who strives for perfection through nirvana.

the second point that i wanted to put across is affluence and wealth. despite the billions of people living in extreme poverty, a quarter of the world is living the wonderful comfortable life people a hundred years ago could never have imagined. they are so comfortable that the slightest degree change in the temperatures of their homes or the minute presence of minerals in their drinking water elicits a spiteful response (often leading to serious lawsuits) toward the people/companies in charge of providing them their comfort. although the average person in the 21st century is wealthier by more than 10 folds of the average person in the 20th century, human greed can never be assuaged. take for example the need for gas and oil in the 20th century that has raised the status of these fuels as "black gold". rising affluence around the globe improves human lives but it has also degraded the other life forms sharing the planet with us; which brings us to the third theme of my story.

expanding on the previous issue, i moved on to briefly mention the issues afflicting the natural world. being the topic that i myself am most passionate, i felt that i did not address it as much as i would like to. but evidently, the story is itself is not about global warming or loss of habitat, so being able to sneak these into a concise story less than a few pages long is good enough for me. i still cringe when i think about the visually gory footage of the chinese literally skinning their domisticated animals alive, dumping these naked, still breathing creatures onto the back of a truck while keeping the blood-drenched skin and fur aside as if the animal's hides are more precious than the animal itself. i wonder how humans can be so shallow and cruel, torturing and tormenting these creatures for the sake of keeping their precious product pels intact without a single thought for the pain that the animals go through before they die. pelts, that are to be used in the fashion industry, are the heart and soul of this story.

drawing from the responses and support, i will definitely write more stories in an effort to improve. i have already taken in all of your praises and criticisms to start on a journey towards writing better. in both the literal and figurative senses, this story is me on my way to writing perfection.