12. Who is beautiful?

I came across this You Tube link in the comments trail at PubRants.

DoveEvolution

I've watched it several times. A nice-looking woman gets make-up, gets photographed, and then the photograph is "photoshopped." And the end result looks similar to an anime character. Is this woman more beautiful than the original? Certainly, advertisers must think so. Perhaps I do, too, and that makes me feel guilty.

I've known some people who I thought, upon first meeting them, were ugly. Two people in particular come to mind, one a man, and one a woman. I met them at different times in my life. The guy was tall and gangly, with thin hair and freckles and a lop-sided face. The woman was also tall, but overweight, with straggly hair, a pushed in face and bad teeth.

And as I got to know each person, my perception of each changed. I think the man is handsome now. He hasn't changed, but I know him to be smart,honest, hard-working, and ethical-minded. I like the woman, too, and I can't find what I once thought was ugly anymore. She is smart and funny and kind. Both are incredibly generous.

So I think I'm wrong on my assessments of beauty in the first instance. It isn't that beauty is skin-deep. Beauty is informed by knowledge.

And we can't get that in a photograph. So instead, advertisers are giving us the fake goods.

How can a lie convey beauty? "Photoshopping" digital pictures takes away what is real. We get a substituted version of womankind. A fake version. And it's sold as beautiful. The subtle message is that reality is less appealing.

Why do we need to elongate the neck and plump the lips and add more space between eyes and eyebrows? Perhaps if the original photo included a quote from the woman, or a quick glimpse of her real self, she would be more beautiful than the fake version. We'd "know" her a little, and see her beauty.

There are a lot of beautiful people around us. But we're not recognizing the beauty, because we're looking for the fake "photoshopped" image that doesn't exist.

And we're missing out on truth and beauty.

Fortunately, there are some good ideas on the Dove CampaignforRealBeauty to help educate our youth. The ideas are aimed at girls, to help with self-esteem. I think we need some education for the boys, too.