The Perfect Rose A man loved a rose. It was perfect. He sat and admired it for hours. But as he sat he noticed a tiny blemish on one of the petals. This bothered him, because he wanted the perfect rose, and he thought he had the perfect rose, but now he wasn't so sure. So he reached over and pulled away the petal with the blemish, and once again admired the beautiful flower. But again, as he gazed at the flower he noticed an imperfection. And desperately wanting to possess the perfect rose, he tore away another petal. This process continued until the last petal was stripped from the flower and nothing but the stem was left. The perfect rose was gone. And the man was very sad. But did the man really love the rose? Or did he just love what he wanted the rose to be? Words and Image by Greg Davis