Beauty is all around and in all things, beauty does serve a purpose in the natural realm. Beauty that is untouched, natural brings peace and joy to its beholder. However, beauty as dictated by the society is but a menace and an way of enslavement, or this is how I see it. I for one have never been bound by what the society dictates as beautiful. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and it's up to one to see beauty in all things.
Let me share an experience of mine with you here. We have two beautiful dogs Spark and Zoe. Spark is a gold and white colored shiz shu. Zoe, the female is more black, grey and white. When we take them out for walks people tend to be attracted to Spark. The children here tell me that Spark is beautiful and Zoe isn't very pretty. However, to those of us at home, who love both the dogs we find Zoe more lovely, she is loving, full of life and energy as is her name. Spark on the other hand is quiet, gentle and rather a laid back. Zoe is our kind of beauty, it's the beauty of who she is that attracts us to her more. The truth is we have discovered her inner beauty which is not so visible to the outsiders who don't see beyond the coat. It's sad that the society we live in extends this unkindness even to our pets.
I come from a country where most of us have a brown skin tone, the unwritten dictate of the society is that dark skinned women never the first choice. Fair skin is synonymous with beauty here. This is reflected in all walks of life be it a job interview or a marriage proposal. Until recently fairness creams used sold by the truck loads because every woman wanted to look beautiful. Sadly this madness didn't spare the men here either, many men also used these skin creams to looker fairer.
This notion of beauty that the world dictates today applied mainly to women than men. Women need to be a certain size 32-16-32 to be considered beautiful. They needed to have wide eyes, sharp noses and cupid bow like lips to be considered beautiful . What did this do to women? They deprived themselves of food, they painted their faces like they were ready for war at all times and worst of all went under the knife to make themselves look pretty.
Plastic surgery which is the gift of man to those with birth defects like cleft lips or fire accident victims has now become the the hobby of every young woman who wants to confine herself to the society's idea of beauty. It hurts me deeply to think that a woman should look into the mirror each morning and think 'what an ugly duckling I am. I need to correct my looks.'
I for one have never been a fan of make up or a huge skin care routine. I am on the downside of fifty and when I look at my brown skin in the mirror all I think I am glad I never burdened my skin with all those chemicals all these years I don't have any wrinkles as yet. My skin still feels soft and supple and I am fine with what I see. I like me!
Recently men too seem to have fallen into this beauty trap that they had set for women in the first place. The six pack abs has become the bane of many a young man in my country. The recent increase in deaths among young men overdoing the gym routines has been alarming, especially men in the mainline media Movies and Television.
All of us want to look our best, I don't see anything wrong with it, but we need to think clearly and decided what is the best for us. It is important that each one of us live for ourselves and not by what society dictates to us. A pretty face or a sexy body is not everything, there is more to a person than physical appearance. All of us have a certain aspect/s of beauty within us and we need to discover and cultivate those rather than just focus on external appearance alone.
A happy person is a beautiful person I believe.
From the fullness of the heart the countenance shines this is my philosophy of life.
When we live by the dictates of the society and the burden it places on our external appearances we can never be happy. It is absolutely essential that we live a happy life and for that we need to accept ourselves as we are.
Nature has balanced us and rounded us out in more ways than we think possible. We have all been gifted in more ways than one, our gifts are not always skin deep. We need to discover our gifts and talents and make them shine through. It is important that we regard ourselves more kindly with grace and less criticism, we also need to stop listening to what the society says and listen to what our heart says.
Those who love us should love us not for our looks but for who we are, not for what we have achieved but for the person we are inside. If we look for love and happiness at the superficial level our life will remain superficial as well. We are more than flesh and blood and it's critical that we acknowledge that ourselves, the society and its expectations will fall in place in time.
This is my answer to the Ladies of Hive contest #122. Thank you for this opportunity. I enjoy participating in the LOH contests. I have been missing out of some lately, hope to be more regular from now on.
Image used in this post belongs to me.