Beauty

When people talk about beauty, I see two opposite sides of the coin, or more specifically, two hypocrisies. First is the seemingly negative which turns out to be positive, while the other is the seemingly positive but turns out to be negative.


For the first issue, some people nowadays are concerned at how much the media and consumerism have distorted our concept of beauty. Beauty products and other body or face operations are prevalent because we are taught to believe that women should have white or fair skin, should have a larger pair of -you know-, and should be slim. Gyms and protein drinks are patronized because we are taught to believe that men should be strong, have strong muscles, and Spartan-like abs. Even I, would like to react badly with how the media teach these kinds of definition of beauty. However, looking at reality, a lot of dark women, fat women, and flat-chested women, have boyfriends or husbands. A lot of nerdy-looking men also have girlfriends or wives. As such, even though media can influence our standards of beauty, it can never entirely change the intrinsic definition of real beauty that is inscribed in a human heart. No amount of TV commercials could ever change a man who sees a different kind of beauty from his prospective wife.

On the other hand, our perception of beauty can go the other way around. We are all very familiar with the saying, "Real beauty is what's inside." We want to apply it in our lives. However, from time to time, we fail to do so. Compare how many people idolize actors and actresses who look good but are brats in real life, to those actors and actresses who aren't necessarily good-looking, but have a good heart. Who has more fans, Kristine Hermosa or Eugene Domingo? If we are really serious about "real beauty is what's inside," then shouldn't the latter have more fans than the former?

I'll take this a little bit closer to our lives and not about celebrities. When we see a couple, the girl, for example, is very pretty, while the boy, is physically far from perfect, we usually let go a judgmental remark. Such a remark given simply from what we see. Who knows? That boy is probably the kindest man who has ever lived (at least second to Jesus)! But do we really care about what's inside if the physical look is what we see first?

Let us then look at ourselves and see how we truly perceive beauty. Do we see the negative from the positive? Or do we choose to see the positive despite the negative? Look at ourselves. It is only by looking at ourselves and being truly honest about ourselves, can we only see and appreciate what is inside of another person.