What is beauty? What makes something beautiful?
Is a scar beautiful? A scar tells a story. That's beautiful because it's true. But if the story is a tragedy, it's not so beautiful.
I fell off a skateboard when I was a child. Some top skin layers over my knee were scraped off. Blood began oozing out, then coagulated, then formed a scab. And the scab later healed. The story is true which is beautiful. The incident was not beautiful. It triggered some real pain I had. It reinforced the idea that I was not safe in this world, especially when I try new things.
What about a discoloration? What about a blemish on the skin? What about someone who limps or someone who has lost a body part. What about someone whose parts never grew to begin with?
We have an image of the body. And that image has meaning and significance in our lives. When that image is deformed, the truth of that deformation is the sad part of the story of that body.
Most women spend a great deal of time working on how they are presented to others. Why is that? And why is it that they do it more than men? Some say it is because they want to look well in front of others. Then why do mostly male birds put more emphasis in their presentation than female birds? Others say it is the expectations of society, especially men that encourage women to place so much effort in their appearance.
Why wear clothes at all? Is it just for functionality? If so, then we would all choose certain clothes for any occasion. Surely clothes in themselves serve to suggest something. They are messages in themselves. Read a fashion magazine and you will find a writer giving their opinion on what someone's dress "says."
Why should we present ourselves nicely? Is it something we do to please others or because we love others or because we want to love ourselves? When we talk to someone, we want to communicate meaning with them. What meaning might we communicate by our person?
Should we hide our deformities? Is that the kind thing to do? Or is it a lie?
Comments
Post a Comment