"The Perfect Life," by John Koethe

Koethe's poem condenses the emotions felt during a typical Western life. The speaker seems like a humble person who doesn't think deeply about his life. For me it seems that during the first stanza the narrator is a teenager or young adult, but by the end of it, he or she turns into a grown up, climbing up to the climax of his or her life. In the second stanza, the adult gets to the point where improving gets harder, and unlike the teenager who was "looking back in satisfaction,"  the adult probably gets to his midlife crisis. Later on, the speaker gets older and feels calmed again. At the end of the poem, the person seems to either die or have dementia, forgetting about his perfect life. I believe that Koethe is trying to point out how humans in our culture are living up their lives too fast, instead of being happy about what seems like a peaceful life, the narrator feels like everything he or she did just faded away and was lost. People nowadays in Western societies spend a lot of time worrying about matters that don't really mean anything, material and superficial things, which will eventually be lost and forgotten.

What the author is trying to say leads me to think people shouldn't focus on things that have material value but should seek happiness and inner peace. In a world where everything we do is likely to be influenced by consumerism, having static things that will support you is better than the immediate satisfaction of buying a product that will work for a few months only. For example, someone who spends his or her life without appreciating family and friends, when gets old and starts getting sick, will have nothing. Even though its cliched, money can't buy love, but a life of affection can. If someone gets Alzheimer's, good memories of friendships will last, but superficial satisfaction will not. By saying Western at the beginning, I meant that our values have changed for us to stop appreciating life. Not saying that other cultures are better, but most others still appreciate abstract matters in life. Life goes by too fast, so real and deep emotions can help us live it up happily and smoothly.