GREAT BEND, Kan. - Society's obsession with perfectly plastic people has gotten out of hand. Every day I see hundreds of half naked men and women flashed before me on the television screen, selling me everything from lingerie to toothbrushes. I am not sure what sexuality has to do with brushing my teeth, but advertisers must believe there is a correlation. At the very least they believe I am so dumb I do not realize I am being sold sex.
I have become completely bored with pre-packaged beauty. I have never found great interest in it anyway. A compliment of physical beauty does not hold much merit. Beauty is something we are in little control of. Intelligence and motivation, that is something we do have control of, something that I do put stock into, and consider a great compliment if I should receive either of those.
Watching "When Harry Met Sally" yesterday I realized, our food is not the only thing that has been super sized in recent years. Meg Ryan was a beautiful woman, a woman that did not go under various cosmetic surgeries to become the playground for other eyes.
Today's women have been cut, poked, and plastered with make-up to fit a pre-conceived notion of beauty. Enhancing breasts, butts, legs, face lifts, tummy tucks, there is no room for flaw. It is unfortunate the enhancement of brains can not be first and foremost on that list. Instead, it seems society has become a group only concerned with instant gratification, and glamor.
Men do not have it any better today. Many men are sculpted to disturbing hulk type images. Something I do not find appealing in the least.
Many teenage girls of today can list several women that have made sex tapes and are famous on television. Many of these same girls cannot name one female that fought for their right to vote. If females are not taught about these strong and fearless women who do they have to look up to other than television starlets?
I have no problem with a person taking pride in their appearance. It goes to far when we ingest plastic into our bodies and hack off attributes to feel better about ourselves. I find it even more discouraging that others encourage this behavior. It is discouraging that our youth of today are watching our comments and praises for things that are irrelevant in life. From a young age it is determined that without a beautiful body, you are not worthy. Boys and girls listen to their parents comment on movie star bodies, they put those comments into a vault to compare those coveted bodies with their own. We must begin teaching young girls it is more important to spend money on brains rather than boobs. Books, education, museums, travel, things to enhance the brain.
I believe we have reached a point in society where nothing is good enough, not even ourselves. I myself am ready for something new. When I hear friends discussing the new celebrity beauty my eyes go blank, and I check out. It is absolutely boring to me. I am sick of big boobs, and toned abs. I am ready for sculpted minds and monstrous amounts of kindness. Something most people do not bring up in every day conversation. It has become conventional to sit around and pick apart our appearance, but not discuss our minds.
I love older people that are not afraid to display their wisdom. I take to heart information passed to me from someone with the signs of a life well lived rather than someone afraid to move on with their lives.
Bonnie Raitt, is a beauty, an older woman that is not scared of grey hair and wrinkles. She has enough class and talent to understand those things are not of essence to her. I look forward to the day that I have wrinkles, grey hair, and underarm flab. The one thing that I hope is not flabby is my brain. I hope to work so hard in life that my face is full of wrinkles, and my head is full of grey hair. I hope to smile so often that I have the most magnificent crows feet. Those are signs of a life well lived, and when I get to that age I will feel pleasure in displaying my years of hard work and laughter for all to see.
Life is to short to dramatically worry about beauty. Beauty is found in imperfection, strength, kindness, confidence, and motivation. Beauty does not have to be created, it is just there. As a society we need to start teaching our children what beauty really is. Beauty is simplicity.
Great post. Your description of beauty resonates with me.
Thank you, Cristina.
I wish you could tell this to every school assembly in our country. Wealth and physical beauty have become our National gods. And the message is to get both by whatever means you can wrangle.
Christina, You make some great points but how do we determine where to draw the line? What is too much?
Brad, it is all about personal choice. Everyone has a personal defintion of what beauty is, some definitions are just more shallow than others. If we as a society start concentrating on things that are important, the media will follow. Personally, I am bored with what is presented by the media as beauty.
What should we/society make of the fact that we have an epidemic of childhood obesity (and adult as well) at the same time that there does seem to be an omnipresent fascination with celebrity and body image?
Is it one of those social paradoxes that the more we seek to obtain perfection the further we wallow in our lack of control to keep food out of our mouths? Or, might it be that we simply are bombarded with calories in soda and processed foods in combination with a new lifestyle of always being on the go and taking our meals at fast food joints? It just seems odd that at a time when there is a proliferation of gyms and spas and an increase in viewership of professional and college sports that we are getting fatter. And, least you think I'm too preachy, I'll readily admit to my own weight problem.