How many of you care about the way you look? I know I sure do. The manner in which I present myself is very important to me. My face gets its own daily customized cleaning regimen, my legs endure shave after shave so that they’ll always be touchable and smooth, and don’t allow me to get started on my hair. I spend so many hours shampooing, conditioning, straightening, and curling you’d think I was a hair stylist.
Who else knows what I’m talking about? I know someone out there has put on an outfit, looked in the mirror, shaken their head in disappointment, and put on another one. This process has been repeated so many times only for him or her to look up in disbelief that an hour has gone by. Need more? Well we have the bleached my teeth to make them whiter, the just bought those $300 pair of shoes because they’re the latest fashion, and, my favorite, the always having many sleepless nights complete with an aching neck from sleeping on my face when I have a ton of rollers in my head.
Most of us work so hard to make sure we attain to a certain level of beauty, physically, but what about the inside? We wake up with a pimple and immediately run to get Proactiv; clear, smooth skin is what’s attractive, isn’t it? What about when we look at someone and pass judgment before even getting to know him or her? Or betray someone that is close to us? Why don’t we rush to correct our ugly insides the same way we do for our imperfect outsides?
The answer is because our perception of beauty is distorted. Television, magazines, and advertisements only portray the physical aspect of beauty. These types of media fail to display the most often unrecognized and true definition of beauty: inner. A person’s character, attitude, and, personality are far more valuable than his or her’s facial symmetry, body shape, and skin tone. Brand name jeans don’t make you beautiful; in fact, no material possessions have the power to determine your beauty. Real beauty comes from deciding to love yourself and others, from showing respect and compassion; real beauty comes from honing in on the qualities within and, fortunately, all those traits do not have a price tag attached.
The individuals within society are caught up on taking care of themselves. We exercise and try to eat healthy in order to stay fit; we pay thousands of dollars on cosmetic surgeries to get a certain look. All this we do in an effort to beautify the physical which, ultimately, isn’t the most important. A beautiful face doesn’t guarantee your spouse will be faithful and rock, solid abs doesn’t mean you’ll have no trouble finding a date. Looks are important because everyone should take pride in who they are, but they aren’t the key factor in defining who that person is. I challenge everyone from now on to take more time to focus on beautifying what lies within because a pretty inside inevitably results in a much prettier outside. I guarantee it.
Shala Marks is a summer intern at EmpowHER. She has a passion for writing and women's issues. She hopes to be an inspiring author and a virtuous woman one day.