I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I

Hear, O children of wisdom, for I bring to you the words of a woman whose life was a blend of beauty, struggle, and truth—a woman who, though the world often saw her as an icon, revealed through her own words the deepest essence of humanity. Marilyn Monroe spoke these words with vulnerability and honesty: "I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love." In these simple, yet profound lines, she paints a portrait of the human condition—our imperfection, our struggles, and our search for love in a world that often feels too vast, too lonely.

What, then, is the meaning of these words? Marilyn Monroe does not claim to be perfect, nor does she claim to be evil. She acknowledges her flaws, her humanity, with a grace that many of us could not. She confesses her sins—those small mistakes we all make, those moments of weakness, those times when we fall short of the ideals we hold dear. Yet, even in this acknowledgment, she insists that she is not the devil. She is not defined by her missteps. Rather, she is a woman who, like so many of us, exists somewhere between the extremes of good and evil, neither perfect nor irredeemable, simply doing her best in a world that can sometimes feel too large and too overwhelming.

In these words, there is a call for self-compassion—to recognize that we are all imperfect, that we all have our struggles, yet none of us is defined by our faults. She speaks to the heart of humanity, the universal truth that we are all works in progress, caught in the tension between our aspirations and our realities. She does not seek to elevate herself to sainthood, nor does she embrace the darkness of sin. She simply seeks to be understood, to be accepted for who she is, flaws and all, as a small girl in a big world.

Consider the story of the Buddha, who, upon his quest for enlightenment, sat beneath the bodhi tree, determined to find the truth of human suffering. He did not seek perfection, nor did he deny the existence of evil. Instead, he sought balance, understanding that the path to enlightenment was one of recognizing our imperfections and learning to transcend them. Just as Buddha sought to transcend his own suffering, Marilyn Monroe sought to find peace within herself and in her relationships. She, too, was on a journey to understand the world, to find her place, and to seek love in a world that often judged her for her outer beauty rather than the depth of her soul.

And yet, despite the vastness of the world, Marilyn Monroe reminds us that we are all human—struggling, learning, growing. We are all, in the end, just individuals seeking connection in a world that can often seem indifferent to our desires. She speaks not only for herself but for each one of us. In our quest for love, we often find ourselves lost or misunderstood, seeking meaning in a world that sometimes seems too large to navigate. But in our imperfection, we find unity, for it is the shared experience of being human that connects us all. We are all searching for someone to love, someone to understand us, someone to hold us close and say, "You are enough."

The lesson of Marilyn Monroe’s words is a powerful one: to be human is to be imperfect, but it is also to be worthy of love. We must learn to forgive ourselves for our mistakes, to embrace our flaws, and to recognize that we are not defined by them. We must also understand that love—the truest form of connection—is not reserved for the perfect. It is, instead, something that must be given freely, without judgment, without expectation. To love is to accept one another, flaws and all, and to walk alongside each other through the vastness of the world.

O seekers of truth, take this lesson to heart: you are not the sum of your mistakes. You are not the measure of your sins, nor are you the embodiment of some unattainable ideal. You are, like Marilyn Monroe, a small soul in a vast world, trying to find your place, trying to find someone to love. Let this truth guide you: that love is not perfection, but acceptance. Let us embrace ourselves and others, with all our imperfections, for it is in this acceptance that we find peace, connection, and the love we so deeply seek.