Perfection+is+Something+Everyone+is+in+Pursuit+of

“Perfection is Something Everyone is in Pursuit of” Life was easy. Everyone knew everyone. Everyone had a job. Everyone was on the same page…the same level. Their world was black and white. Everyone wears the same uniform; they are all the same color. The only differences in uniforms are women wearing dresses and men wearing trousers with collared shirts. Everyone has a roof over his or her heads. Life has few rules because no one commits any crimes here. Arguments, disputes, violence is never a problem here and no one even knew the words existed. The rules created have carried on in our daily lives and we follow them religiously. Everyone watches the same shows on the telly and we discuss the shows the next day at work. //Daily Neighbor// is a favorite around here; it is a show with a great moral ending to each episode like love your parents, love yourself, love life, and obey the rules. The next day everyone will try to follow the moral from the episode the night before and they would succeed. We live in a successful and functional town. Everyone has a purpose in the town. We have a mayor, policemen, hospital staff members, respected custodians, farmers, and even dog walkers. Everyone is on the same level and no ones job is on a mental hierarchy of “my job is more respectful than yours.” The custodians keep our parks and schools clean, our doctor’s and nurses save lives, our policemen make sure everyone is prompt and to prevent anything from happening, but nothing ever does. Our mayor reminds us to have a great day and remember the episode of //Daily Neighbor// from the day before. Kids never act up, so mothers never have to scold. We believe everyone is here for a reason and in this town; you are here for a reason. Everyone is allowed two kids; people preferred to have a boy and girl, but that isn’t always the case. At the beginning, everyone wanted two boys to carry on names and traditions. However, one day it was decided girls are just as vital and now people want boys and girls. Something I take pride is our future with the kids of the town. We watch kids progress through school and by monitoring their behavior and academics. We give students career surveys to determine where they would excel in our town after they complete school. With the same population size, we always have a position to fill and someone to fill it respectfully. Everyone is allowed to play a sport for exercise and we play ourselves in weekly scrimmages. The whole town participates after work whether to watch or play. There is always suspense to the games! Of course, everyone is a winner because playing the game is about fun, not about the score. Kids these days do not even know what the word //score// means. We rotate who participates, who plays what position and who starts each scrimmage. All the neighbors are respectful and barbeques are always popular once the weather is sunny and warm. But people seem to move away unexpectedly. No one seems to notice, but I do. I have. Oh, and an ordinary family will be working in the front yard of the house or their kids would be playing with other kids in the neighborhood, but the next day the house would be completely empty and on the market. It never takes too long for another happy family to move into the house, so I never worry about it too much. Houses are all functional: two stories, three bedrooms, two baths, and a great room for the family to eat together, watch the telly together, and hang out together. You can either have a white house with grey shutters or a white house with black shutters. Every house is equipped with a driveway, mail box, and garage for their bicycles. Every mail box is black and every bicycle is grey with white lettering. We have strict laws with the up- keep for yards like freshly cut grass once a week, appropriate flowers for each season, and plenty of trees to keep our air supply crisp, clean and clear. This town would be ideal for a home and garden magazine! We would like new people; we would be pleased to welcome new families into the town and expand. Our mayor and volunteer panel have expressed the idea of adding new jobs, new ideas, and making our town even more perfect than we thought we could. We even considered adding the color blue to some of the houses or to add a little more color in the scheme of things. This town is booming and I look forward to continuing the excellence within our borders, families, and way of living. Thank you. Lights, please. “I am sure you are pleased with everything: the laws, the code, our morals, our respect to each other and the townsfolk, the idea of being on the same level, and working hard to create the perfect town. Everyone will love to come here and be apart of it; we’re ready for them. And there isn’t anything else to say. I’m proud of our community and the people within the town limits. No one goes outside the limits and no one really thinks about venturing out because we are so successful!” I said as my presentation ended. I was really proud of the town. However, all I saw were blank faces staring back at me and I knew the panel disagreed. The mumbling began. “It still isn’t the way we truly want it,” said one member to another. “I agree,” said another member, “we need to add new amendments and change a few laws. This is our third try and each time improves, but it isn’t our dream yet. The town hasn’t reached its full potential.” “So what are you saying?” I asked extremely confused by this point. “Well…” said the headperson of the committee. She paused for a second to think about her next few statements. She looked around the room and the other members nodded with approval for her to continue. “You don’t exist. I mean, of course you exist, but only here. We choose to bring you here to the town because you were successful in life. We have watched you grow up and mold into a beautiful, intelligent woman. We knew you could help us develop a town without even realizing it. Of course, you don’t remember your real life. You remember what we allow you to remember.” “What? So what happens next?” I asked very quietly. “Why do we need to pass that information on to you?” asked an older committee member. “Oh, tell her,” another gentleman on the committee said to the headperson. “Yes, I think I can. There is a world beyond this one. You think you live a life that is perfect. Sorry. It is almost perfect because we created this world for you. We take people no one cares for like foster children, homeless people, outcasts in a society, or people we feel would contribute to our town. Of course, these people have no idea. We erase what we want from their memory before we release them into town. How else do you think new families move in? They come from somewhere, right?” “Well,” I asked very carefully, “what happens to the people who have ‘moved out’?” “That’s a great question! Why they get put exactly where we found them in the first place! We erase their memory and drop them back into the awful society that has already rejected them. Some people are simply rejects for a reason and not even we can help them in the end. Their lives typically end in a few days after we drop them off anyway. It’s for the best.” “What do you mean?” I exclaimed. “We haven’t quite figured out what happens to them on the way back to civilization. When we bring them to the town, they are fine and relatively normal. A few of our classes later and we screen them as a go ahead or take the next train back to their old lives. I really think it’s the brain washing that does it, but I’m not sure yet” said the headperson. “So what happens now? What happens to everyone and everything?” I asked. “You go home. You rest a little and before you know it a few days will pass. Everything will be normal and rules will have changed,” said the headperson. I turned around slowly and headed towards the door with a brightly lit exit sign inches above the door. I stopped a second to process everything…I lived in a fake world, but a world that had accepted me. Everyone who lived in the town didn’t really exist because they had been erased from their old society just like I had. I couldn’t believe I was being programmed and moved around like a puppet. We were watched constantly and monitored everyday just like we monitored the kids in school. It wasn’t going to be all right. I opened the door with my thoughts running. I tried to turn around, but a bright light shining in my face distracted me from continuing to turn around. It seemed to be staring back at me. I then realized I was never coming back. The town was gone. My town. It was as if it never existed. Then everything went blurry and shades of color I’d never seen before blazed before my eyes. The next town was different: new people, new setting, new life, and new laws. The panel smiled. Maybe this time it would be different. Perfect. The end.