Beauty and the Differences

“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” so said Shakespeare. And so followed the world. And like all great legends Shakespeare died making his verse immortal, though the effects of the same were buried with him.

Beauty is one thing which is not at all subjective and clearly doesn’t reside in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty is what models show off. It is what the top fashion designer wants on the ramp. It is how the mushrooming gyms and fitness centers making profit. It is why the girls are starving and guys are obsessed with 6 packs. It is what the mass think is beautiful – not what you perceive it to be. If you are fair, have tons of makeup, with size zero figure and the scantiest of rags on you (for females) or 6-8 packs crafted on your stomach (for males) then congrats, you just score 10/10 in the beauty most-wanted-requirements list.

I am sure many will contradict it saying, that isn’t beauty, and I have this notion or that notion. True, everyone indeed, has a different definition of beauty. I am not denying that. But hardly people have guts to live with their notion and express freely what they sense beauty as. Artist (from all fields) may be shortlisted for it. But here I am talking of the majority. The majority flows with the trend. The trend set by handful of powerful and obsessed beings.

The discrimination with black models, the sudden race of being in the Bebo size, the increasing sale of fair and lovely, the fresh stock of slim jeans, the fat-free cheese (kidding me?), the search for a fair-and-slim bride for the son of the house, etc. are just few daily life example which we all can witness. The list is just never ending and the hazards of such a beauty are even more deadly than our imagination. Literally causing death.

Former Miss Argentina, Solange Magnano died at a Buenos Aires medical center last Sunday, after undergoing a plastic surgery procedure.

Solange, who won the Miss Argentina pageant in 1994, suffered a pulmonary embolism when liquid was being injected into her buttocks the day after she underwent a gluteoplasty (buttock implant). The liquid reportedly entered her lungs and brain, killing her instantly.

No points for guessing that the above post prompted me to write this post. Additional information: I have experienced the pain of beauty. John Keats should have defined beauty before labeling it as “a thing of joy”.

I was born with what I will prefer to call a birth mark on my fingers. Or what others call as a deformity. It was just a translucent skin joining two fingers of my each hand. But this became a matter of my future, as what my dear simple (or among the majority) relatives thought. Doctors gained from my loss and I underwent surgery. Not once or twice but thrice in just early 13 years of my life. Things turned worse. My fingers bent, then were straightened again, though in a different way and are now decorated with surgical marks, thanks for the carelessness from the sides of doctor and complexity of the case (bones now being involved). But the worst have been the loss on my studies, time, blood, health, and the immense pain I have been into because of others notion of beauty.

And just a few days back, under pressure from some really caring relatives and beauty-obsessed people I again agreed to undergo a 6 month long pain process - called plastic surgery - for my fingers. But thankfully, because of some sudden unexpected turns of events and self realization I dropped the idea. I am not again sacrificing myself for others’ whims. Especially now, when I am the sole responsible for my decisions. I know I am beautiful, because God made me so and because I can feel that inside.

Though the above whole narrative talks about my personal experience, I am sure many will be able to quote one or the other instance where they had to try hard to fit in the famous so called beauty’s definition. This is driving all crazy and knowingly or unknowingly we are just contributing to it. We are the one who are driving the craze further by being a part of it.

No matter however cheesy it may sound, I will still hold that real beauty is the beauty of heart. Presentation may matter but not your skin color or the brand of your cloths. It’s just so secondary. For a quick litmus test, ask yourself how beautiful is your best friend, and if he/she will still be your best friend if he/she don’t look all that gorgeous? Will you dislike your brother or sister for being a tone darker? Will you hate the subject just because your teacher doesn’t wear a Victoria Secret? Of course, NO.

Thankfully, still we somehow value what is more important than beauty. The need is only to strengthen the feeling, and make it scope wider so as to cover not only those who are close, but everyone. If only we stop judging people on their beauty and start looking what lies beyond that. Applying our definition of beauty (the one covering our parents, siblings and teachers) will work too. And there is definitely no need to get discouraged if some people want the whole world to be painted white and crafted perfectly.

God gave us the differences so we may identify others, not to categorize them. (Essence of the Quranic Verse 49:13)

Let’s learn to respect ours and others’ differences and the world will turn to be a beautiful place to live in.