Value of beauty

One day recently, I opened the business section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, my hometown newspaper, and saw a news item titled “Job hunters seek leg up by having plastic surgery”. The article was reporting on a recent trend among the 50 something to resort to plastic surgery to look young and remove any negatives of being an older person in the job market.  The article quoted several job seekers and plastic surgeons to indicate that a nip and tuck, and Botox go a long way to wash away the girth and wrinkles from aging.  One quote in particular stood out ‘The seasoned experts, once pictured in ads with lots of wrinkles, have been replaced by young go-getters with multiple degrees and the appearance of boundless energy.”

As a 50 something myself, the article was unsettling to say the least.  I was thinking what we have come to as a society.  I started to question whether it is the vigor or the beauty that is more important to a society.

We all know that the head turns are reserved only for the beautiful looking people.  Marilyn Monroe is known all around the world not for her accomplishments, but because of her buxom body in her pin up posters.  Few years back an actress from India, named Ash Rai, was being referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world.  You couldn’t get a more absolute statement than that “the most beautiful woman in the world”.  It is as if there is some kind of meter or scale and one can measure one’s beauty in a quantitative scale and score them.  I wish I knew where I can get that scale.

So if you are a non-beautiful looking person or like me, downright ugly looking, here is my advice.  Take heart in what Benjamin Franklin said “Beauty, like supreme dominion, is but supported by opinion”.  Other commonly known phrases “But beauty is only skin deep” mean the same.  But the most important phrase that I like is “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.  It is up to you to project what you want about you to the beholder. 

Let us say we are in a party and we strike up a conversation with few people.  One is young and beautiful and the other slightly older and with a few wrinkles.  I bet you are going to turn to the young one first. But let us say you soon realize she is just an empty head with not a whole lot to add to the conversation.  However, the one with some wrinkles is entertaining, lucid and has a great sense of humor.  You are going to quickly forget the beauty and look at what the person has to offer to you.

This fact applies to every situation in life.  Beauty is truly skin deep.  It is what is in your head that matters most.  So the not so young ones among us, you don’t have to resort to the nip and tuck.  Just sharpen your tongue and your wit and you can overcome the disadvantages of the wrinkles.