Finding beauty in imperfection, and accepting the natural cycle of growth and decay . . . “Imperfection is in some way sort of essential to all that we know in life.  It is the sign of life in the mortal body, that is to say, of a state of progress and change.  Nothing that lives is, or can be, rigidly perfect; part of it is decaying, part developing . . . And in all things that live there are certain irregularities and deficiencies which are not only signs of life, but sources of beauty . . . To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality.  All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be Effort, and the law of human judgment, Mercy”