The Mask of Ego

The Perfect Life

By: John Koethe                   

                  What is happiness? Is it having the opportunity to be alive? Is it to be blessed with gifts? Or is it living each day to the fullest, with no regrets, but only dreams? However, how is it possible to make mistakes and not regret them? We are humans, and we are bound to be flawed. John Koethe describes “The Perfect Life” as a definition of the early years. Youth only brings ignorance and lack of experience, it is full of mysteries. Most of all, youth is superficial. We base our self–esteem and build our character with ego. Society at the commence of life has an overview of a successful future, nevertheless, are so drowned in self-image, there is no acknowledgement of the possibility of an imperfect life. Arrogance covers the various faults committed. If people convince themselves that they did nothing wrong by making mistakes, they are avoiding the idea of being defective. Koethe claims: “For my own powers and innate superiority – the fake.” These final words point out how ego is an illusion of the human mind. He justify’s this idea by stating that our souls mock the human behavior. The first stanza concludes that despite the fact that youth is a bright time of a person’s life, it is a fantasy created by the  human mind and spirit. 

             As Koethe writes the first lines in the second stanza, he initiates his idea with gloomy diction, and proclaims how the end of life is a dark era. Implying that the elderly loose faith and spirit, for life becomes repetitive, and wonderful moments turn meaningless. We can infer that as a person comes close to their death, they become satisfied with the idea of it being the ending of their existence, with this sentence: “Feelings of contentment, but the human dies.”  In addition, when the author says: “Human dies,” it refers to their ego having diseased as well. This message explains how the detachment of  materialism leads to happiness. In conclusion, youth is not bliss, for ignorance is a waste of time on Earth. Humans focus on shallow thoughts instead of living a life full of wisdom and comprehension. Impartiality is the main ingredient for contentment.