Beauty is in the Heart

A friend asked me to comment on beauty and the media. (He must have thought I was some kind of vocab factory capable of churning out profound quotes at the drop of a hat... hey, I am flattered). But I have to accept my limitations - I ain't no vocab whiz and certainly not in a position to comment on topics of such aesthetic nature with dexterity and wit.

But the thing is, if beauty is measured according to what everyone (including the media) says - from both inside and outside - then why are we still hankering after the external? Why do we desire to look good in order to feel good? Why should the standards of beauty be determined by celebrities whose existence depend on an army of makeup artists and photoshop backroom boys?

An accquaintance who worked at a popular slimming establishment once told me that the expensive slimming programmes actually put the clients in a worse-off situation than before they had walked into the shop. Sure, this is not news... but wait... if this is so, then WHY ARE PEOPLE STILL FLOCKING TO BE FLEECED?

The cosmetics industry makes serious bucks, along with their advertising and mass media compatriots - all to create, sustain, persuade and manipulate this desire (to be beautiful according to stipulated standards) and more importantly, to make this desire attainable.

It's like, if being more beautiful is within your reach, why not grab it with both fists? And throw a few more bottles of botox, some collagen, and a pair of silicone implants into the basket as well. After all, we all deserve to be beautiful and happy. Da de dum...

I guess people (despite the lip service) had forgotten that beauty has more to do with the inside rather than the outside. They'd forgotten that there was a time when beauty was used to describe goodness, truth, integrity, meekness, patience, selflessness. There was a time when character - not looks - made a man.

Why are these qualities a rarity in the media? Why the persuasion towards the external? To satisfy our base desire to covet? To feed envy? If so, we are in D.S., if we aren't already.


God, help me identify real beauty when it comes my way.