A relative once whizzed through a photo album that securely sealed my most treasured school friends and memories. To my sheer surprise, she declared that none of my friends were pretty. It was odd for me because I found all my friends to be beautiful.
Beauty has always been a puzzling concept for me. Some consider you to be pretty. Some treat you as if you are too simple. Some say you are beautiful. Some appreciate beauty in simplicity. Some are too used to make-up adornments and glamorous displays to associate beauty with that only.
In my teenage years, I could not decide what people meant by a person being beautiful or not. I heard vague references of so and so being beautiful. Yet, I could not find any objective standards to assess and evaluate beauty. I wondered what beauty meant to the world. I saw Miss World and Miss Universe images, and yet arrived at no convincing conclusion.
Physical appearance is always a matter of concern. It is, after all, the first and foremost visible trait that a person can gather about another person. As combinations of different physical features constitute different faces and individuals, physical appearance becomes a distinguishing identity characteristic that can tell apart one person from another.
Physical features are open to subjective judgement and evaluation when compared with other physical appearances. This subjective judgement determines a relative scale of beauty. The idea of beauty has developed and evolved through millions of comparisons and assessments, and it will continue to change from people to people, culture to culture, and place to place.
In my teenage years, I could not decide what people meant by a person being beautiful or not. I heard vague references of so and so being beautiful. Yet, I could not find any objective standards to assess and evaluate beauty. I wondered what beauty meant to the world. I saw Miss World and Miss Universe images, and yet arrived at no convincing conclusion.
Physical appearance is always a matter of concern. It is, after all, the first and foremost visible trait that a person can gather about another person. As combinations of different physical features constitute different faces and individuals, physical appearance becomes a distinguishing identity characteristic that can tell apart one person from another.
Physical features are open to subjective judgement and evaluation when compared with other physical appearances. This subjective judgement determines a relative scale of beauty. The idea of beauty has developed and evolved through millions of comparisons and assessments, and it will continue to change from people to people, culture to culture, and place to place.
While physical appearance is responsible for the apparent outlook of beauty, I believe that true beauty emerges from inner happiness and outward smiles. For me, beauty is what each of my loved ones entails. My friends and family make me smile. I feel secure and happy to have them around me. We share likes and dislikes, understand each other, and can depend on each other. We click! That is what makes them beautiful for me. I know their inside. I see their beauty. And that inner beauty of their souls reflects on their faces, and I find them to be beautiful.
Beautiful! :)
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