No Work Is Flawless, as No Fire Is Without Smoke
As no fire is free of smoke, no undertaking is free of flaw. So do not abandon the work that is properly yours merely because it seems somewhat wanting.
Because it will not be perfect, do I fail even to begin the work that is properly mine?
📝Reflection
The old teacher gives the lucid image: as no fire is free of smoke, no work is free of flaw. I read 'the work that is yours' not as a station fixed by birth but as the proper role my life now entrusts to me — my part as a parent, a worker, a friend. Unsure I can do it perfectly, I delay even beginning. But every fire gives off smoke. To drop the work for fear of flaw is not humility but avoidance under the name of perfectionism. Voltaire's 'the perfect is the enemy of the good' lives here. Only one who embraces even the flaw and carries their share accomplishes anything. Fear the smoke, and you will never light the fire.
🌱Apply It Today
Take one task of yours you delayed 'for fear it won't be perfect,' and simply begin it, allowing it to be flawed.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
