It goes without saying that every one of us grew up molded and groomed by the mindsets prevalent in our society. Some of these mindsets have stayed with us right into adulthood. Some of them were sold to us while we were grown or while growing up. It takes a lot of bravery and deep soul searching to free one's self from such a destructive cultural ethos.
One of the very harmful ones I would say is the need to be physically appealing. We grew up watching Disney movies, storybooks and even reading romance novels that beleaguered us with the physically "perfect" and picture-worthy people. People grow up believing that if they do not possess a certain body type or have a particular kind of facial structure, they were severely lacking. Beauty contests are held were size zero models with extremely long necks and legs were crowned queens and people hail them.... instilling in the minds of children and adults the model for beauty. For the men, washboard bellies, and the fictional tall, dark and handsome criteria has become a burden just too much too bear at times.
While it is of paramount importance to be healthy and look it and to be well groomed, and appropriately dressed for whatever situation, I think it is morally and psychologically wrong for society to continue to propagate this notion that if you do not look a certain way, then you are not good enough.
Children grow up with this kind of mentality and either become bullies of those who are "less of what they are" or become preys to those who feel superior. It might not go as far as physical bullying, but it could be psychological and emotional. Some children are daunted by the fact that they do not look "cool enough".
The fashion industry and some pharmaceutical industries have latched on to this ideology and are ripping people off who will pay whatever the price for clothes, shoes bags, jewelries, fragrances, slimming pills, body creams and the likes in order to be as physically appealing as possible.
It is so horrible that some people have gone to the extreme.... getting botox injections and even going under the knife for procedures like liposuction, breast and bum enhancement. Other people spend their days irrationally horrified about the prospects of getting old and wrinkled. Ageing is probably their worst nightmare! And then we have the ones who go under the knife to look like celebrities.
This is pop culture madness and needs to stop. When we look around us we see people who look exactly like dolls, some have been so altered that they are a far cry from their original selves. It is about time parents and the mass media begin to sell a more worthy mindset. One that doesn't rely so much on being picture perfect.
It is important for people to know that is alright to be flawed. It is alright to have scars, it alright if you are born with noses which aren't straight. It alright if you aren't so curvy. It is alright if you are not a certain height. It is alright to be yourself and to look the way you do!! You know why? Because individuality is the hallmark of humanity. It is our uniqueness that makes the world interesting and wonderful. It is our individuality that does not make the world a monochrome of boredom and repetition. We all have something to offer the world just the way we are. Instead of trying so much to look like another person, we could cultivate our own individuality; work on our strength, work ethics, talents and mojo.
People who really care about you will love you more for more important things than what you look like. They don't need you to look a certain way to appreciate you. And if they do, then they are not worth being in your life.
You are beautiful, you are wonderful, you are perfect!
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(images courtesy of pixabay)
