The Perfect Life by John Koethe

In “The Perfect Life” by John Koethe, I don’t think he describes a perfect life, but rather how our perception of life changes as we grow old. As kids, everything makes us happy, we have no disappointments, no regrets, and we look forward to the next day. But as we grow old, no matter how interesting the present is, he says everything “turns colorless and cold” (Koethe J. – The Perfect Life). I relate to the poem in the sense that, as kids, everything is wonderful. That happened to me. As a little boy, my life was filled with magic (like Santa), and everything, from the smallest thing, seemed so incredible. My biggest problems were limited to not finding my favorite toy, or the TV show I liked wasn’t playing at the moment. Thinking back, all that can be simply explained by lack of experience (I’m not saying it wasn’t great, I’m just saying that it was so great because we hadn’t lived as much as we have now). As I grew up, gaining experience, the magic vanished, and the things that I saw as special were just incorporated to my everyday life, becoming invisible, and most of the time boring. It has come to the point that now I find TV boring.

Some things, stay special forever

But as all those things lost their “specialness”, new things came along, things that I never thought of as a little kid. Yes, problems now are more serious than they used to be, but happiness is deeper and more special. The fact that the things we saw as special when kids lose their magic as we grow old doesn’t mean that our life is boring. It just means that it’s time to get out there and find new things to make us happy. Life has so many things to be found, it has so many variations, that I have to disagree with the second part of the poem. You have the option to make your life boring, or perfect, because perfection is a matter of perception.

Right now, I think my life is perfect, unlike Koethe in his poem. I’m happy, I have everything I want, and everything I need. Maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t lived as long as he has. But I’m certain, that if I play my cards right, I’ll be as happy in the future. Yes, probably what is special today won’t be in the future, but just like it happened since I was a little boy, I’ll find new things that will seem special, and fill my life with happiness.