This article is beautiful! This guy is an amazing writer, whether he knows it or not. 🙂
I’m reblogging, which I’ve never done before, because this is valuable. I love the points he makes, and I love that it’s a man doing it. Men and women both in our culture need to take the time to think about and discuss these topics. Awareness is an important first step toward change, and we still, unfortunately, have a low awareness level of just how much our society is focused on looks, on image, especially for women. We are definitely not “one-note instruments,” but we certainly have to wade around in a society that considers us as such. Let’s talk about our value, our characteristics, the talents and gifts and unique combination of personality traits that makes each of us who we are, worthwhile and important members of society. Everyone has something to contribute and everyone is worth receiving something back.
Every two or three days, I see an article or blog post or forwarded inspirational quote about beauty. It’s usually something affirming like
“You are beautiful, whether you know it or not.”
“We are all beautiful.”
“Everyone is beautiful to somebody.”
It’s cheerful stuff. It builds the self-esteem, makes people feel valued, and spreads joy and happiness across the internet.
It’s also bullshit.
And you know it’s bullshit, because you really wanted to laugh at that picture.
Everyone is not beautiful. Some people have tumors the size of a second head growing out of their ears. Some people have skin like the Michelin man. Some people lose fingers, legs, or eyes in horrific assembly-line machine accidents. People have warts and blemishes and hair loss and dead teeth and lazy eyes and cleft palates and third nipples and unibrows.
There are plenty of people that are not physically appealing to look at, the…
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Life and Lims 
Thanks! I enjoyed both your thoughts and the other guy’s.
Oh, but outward physical beauty can be SO MUCH EASIER to obtain for many in this generation!
Why become interesting and kind and talented, which could take years and years of self development and sacrifice, when the world offers this type of physical quick-fix for some financing or the maxing out of a credit card…Remember this television show?…UGH.
“Extreme Makeover follows the stories of the lucky individuals who are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be given a truly “Cinderella-like” experience: a real life fairy tale in which their wishes come true, not just by changing their looks, but their lives and destinies. This magic is conjured through the skills of an “Extreme Team,” including the nation’s top plastic surgeons, eye surgeons and cosmetic dentists, along with a talented team of hair and makeup artists, stylists, and personal trainers, led by an on-camera Extreme Makeover expert. This season will feature more “news you can use” tips about fashion, hair and makeup for the home viewers also, so they, too, can experience a little bit of the show’s magic. Each self-contained episode features two people, seen first in their “before” phase, then as they undergo their various procedures, and finally, in a climactic unveiling – the “after” -when the candidates reveal their new selves to their families and friends.”
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“You are valuable.
You are important.
You are interesting.
You are worth loving.
So forget about “beautiful”. It’s become an ugly word anyway.”