Beautiful Or Physically Attractive?

"Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time." --Albert Camus

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart." --Kahlil Gibran

People seem to be putting more emphasis on physical attractiveness, and many are going to great lengths to achieve it. I saw kind of a disturbing report on the news this morning that one of the new trends is moms that are undergoing extensive plastic surgery to try to appear as though they are their daughter's twin. I find this to be kind of sick! Even if it doesn't bother your daughter, you have to ask yourself what kind of a message you are sending to her for when she starts to age. Will she be destined to repeat your actions at the sign of her first wrinkle? I also saw another show that had a couple moms on that were pressuring their daughters to undergo plastic surgery. One of the girls was considering it, but the other one didn't even think there was anything wrong with her body image. She thought she was beautiful the way she was, and her mom just kept drilling into her head how much she needed just a little nip here and tuck there. Whatever happened to your mom being at least the one person who would always think you were beautiful no matter what?

Ironically though, this is a subject that has been plaguing me lately for a couple of different reasons. The first is how this exact thing has affected my life as I journey through the years that continue to age me. That first quote by Camus is interesting to me because when you think about it, you spend all these years growing and maturing as a child, then you get a couple of good years in between that and the ones spent struggling to "maintain" for the rest of your life. I'm not afraid to say I feel as though I was a very physically attractive person in my 20's. Don't get me wrong, I was no supermodel. But I did enjoy many of the advantages of being an attractive woman. I've watched many heads turn my way on the street, had many drinks bought for me in a bar, had people in stores bend over backwards to help me, and so on. It may sound as though I am really full of myself, but I promise I'm not. I really am just stating how it is, and all you girls out there that are the same know that I'm right. But after having a couple of children and aging into my mid-30's, it's becoming harder and harder to recognize that person I used to be. I don't really see that many heads turning my way anymore, and clothes don't always hang on me quite as perfectly as they used to. However, I have come to the realization that I am becoming a much more beautiful person on the inside as I mature and continue to improve the "Rhoda" that lives within my soul. Before you start feeling sorry for me, just know I don't find myself physically unattractive...yet. But I'm not as young as I used to be, and I never will be as young as I am today. And like they say, in the end, you can't take it with you. So at some point you really do have to remember that beauty is only skin deep, and are you really going to waste all that time, money, and effort into preserving that?

The second point that has cause for me to be concerned with this subject is I want to make sure that I am projecting the best body image and sense of high self-esteem onto my daughter. I am thrilled with the fact that she is one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever seen. However, I have no way of knowing how she will mature physically, and kids can be really mean...and that's just getting her through school! My dream for my precious daughter is for her to grow into an independent, confident, beautiful woman, and I think if I can instill in her the first two, the third will be there no matter what.

This world has turned into such a shallow and materialistic place, and we have to remember that we are all only here for a short time. I for one don't want to spend my time only trying to look better. I hope that one day I can be remembered for something great I did or a profound statement I made and not just a pretty face. Besides when you think about it, a pretty face is really just either something you are born with or something you can buy, and it really doesn't seem like that much of an accomplishment at all.

So you have to ask yourself...is it more important to be physically attractive or just be downright BEAUTIFUL? Because even the best plastic surgeons can't fix your outer beauty forever.