Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Beauty
I was checking out the profile of my most recently added friend on Friendster, this former classmate of mine from secondary school, and I found myself gaping at her photos. She is simply incredibly beautiful! Ok...she has always been that sort of gal who has it all...incredibly beautiful, incredibly smart, capable, rich...u name it. Haha...it is true, guys, we gals lurve to check out other gals and I am no exception. Although I think I am less observant than most of my gal pals. Raine once asked me if I notice anything different about her and I spent 5 min scrutinising her and giving her 4 wrong guesses b4 she told me the answer herself :p
Anyway, yeah, it got me thinking once again about the subject of beauty. The Bible says that:"Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." We all know that even the most beautiful woman must someday reminisce after her past days of glory. Yet beauty is one thing almost everyone hankers after. Skincare products, clothes, accessories fly off the shelves because of this pursuit.
Sometimes I wonder how much people meant it when they say that they value inner beauty more than outward appearances. So why do they spend so much more cash to look attractive and not to be attractive?
Not that I am advocating that we all start shunning the gym and exchange our fashionable threads for anything that resembles a tent. I agree with one writer that the Bible emphasizes enough about beautiful men and women....God certainly did not intend for us to not care about our appearances! Look at Sarah, Esther, Rachel, David, Daniel and the list goes on. I guess to me, true beauty is not only about taking care of your outward appearance, but cultivating something deep within. As Gracie said, one of her criteria for true beauty is a big heart. One that is loving (not out of your own subconscious neediness) towards other people.
Ok...this post struck me as being very "blah" or overwritten. But I guess the issue is still there for us in our quarter-life, not a girl (or a boy) but not yet a woman (man). I know some people who emphasize sooo much on looks that, while I respect their views, I find it hard to agree or see eye to eye with them. Like someone who recently reiterated to me that his number 1 criteria for a galfren is beauty. Sigh....plenty of them out there, I guess. But erm...can that criteria be a stand-alone thing; how about other stuff like compatibility or her character? Because his next criteria is intelligence. Ok...I am really getting judgemental here. It's not godly, Jenn. Stop it.
I also notice that, as we grow up, many of the people around me dig what I call the "contrived look". It means the dolled-up look: never going out without your make-up on, eyebrows tweezed, blah blah. Of course, in some profession, occasion or society like in Korea, it is considered a form of propriety to apply make-up and being well put together in general. I am probably one of the rare few among my acquaintances who dun apply a sliver of make-up when I go out, unless it is to attend some important event. I am too lazy to even do some beauty rituals many a times hohoho. Which probably means no metrosexual will ever go for me *LOL*
"Contrived look" can have a real nice visual effect, but it is a pity when it is excessive or wrongly done. Like gals who pluck their eyebrows when they dun have much to begin with. Sometimes the "contrived look" kind of make an originally pretty gal less lovely than she otherwise would have been.
I guess at the end of the day, everyone has their own standard of what contitutes beauty and how they want to appear to others. Perhaps for me, the key is not to beautify or emphasize on looks excessively, cultivate your personality and individual taste, eat and exercise correctly, dress appropriately and most importantly, stay in a right relationship with God :)
Anyway, yeah, it got me thinking once again about the subject of beauty. The Bible says that:"Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." We all know that even the most beautiful woman must someday reminisce after her past days of glory. Yet beauty is one thing almost everyone hankers after. Skincare products, clothes, accessories fly off the shelves because of this pursuit.
Sometimes I wonder how much people meant it when they say that they value inner beauty more than outward appearances. So why do they spend so much more cash to look attractive and not to be attractive?
Not that I am advocating that we all start shunning the gym and exchange our fashionable threads for anything that resembles a tent. I agree with one writer that the Bible emphasizes enough about beautiful men and women....God certainly did not intend for us to not care about our appearances! Look at Sarah, Esther, Rachel, David, Daniel and the list goes on. I guess to me, true beauty is not only about taking care of your outward appearance, but cultivating something deep within. As Gracie said, one of her criteria for true beauty is a big heart. One that is loving (not out of your own subconscious neediness) towards other people.
Ok...this post struck me as being very "blah" or overwritten. But I guess the issue is still there for us in our quarter-life, not a girl (or a boy) but not yet a woman (man). I know some people who emphasize sooo much on looks that, while I respect their views, I find it hard to agree or see eye to eye with them. Like someone who recently reiterated to me that his number 1 criteria for a galfren is beauty. Sigh....plenty of them out there, I guess. But erm...can that criteria be a stand-alone thing; how about other stuff like compatibility or her character? Because his next criteria is intelligence. Ok...I am really getting judgemental here. It's not godly, Jenn. Stop it.
I also notice that, as we grow up, many of the people around me dig what I call the "contrived look". It means the dolled-up look: never going out without your make-up on, eyebrows tweezed, blah blah. Of course, in some profession, occasion or society like in Korea, it is considered a form of propriety to apply make-up and being well put together in general. I am probably one of the rare few among my acquaintances who dun apply a sliver of make-up when I go out, unless it is to attend some important event. I am too lazy to even do some beauty rituals many a times hohoho. Which probably means no metrosexual will ever go for me *LOL*
"Contrived look" can have a real nice visual effect, but it is a pity when it is excessive or wrongly done. Like gals who pluck their eyebrows when they dun have much to begin with. Sometimes the "contrived look" kind of make an originally pretty gal less lovely than she otherwise would have been.
I guess at the end of the day, everyone has their own standard of what contitutes beauty and how they want to appear to others. Perhaps for me, the key is not to beautify or emphasize on looks excessively, cultivate your personality and individual taste, eat and exercise correctly, dress appropriately and most importantly, stay in a right relationship with God :)
// posted by Jenn @ 6:54 PM 
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