Amidst all the fanfare of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony, one story particularly struck me. An article about how the Olympics committee members replaced the singer for the opening ceremony with a cuter kid who ended up doing a voice over of the song(link). I thought about it for sometime and then its relevance (to the world and to me) got lost in the "race for 8" news features about Micheal Phelps.
Last weekend, I attended a birthday party with my son. As in all birthday parties for kids, there was a person dressed up as a clown to entertain the kids. Halfway through her mediocre routine (the kids would disagree with me on that one) , she messed up a magic trick. The fumble was apparent to all the grown ups, but the kids hardly noticed. She made a good comeback and fell back on track to continue her act. It was then that one of the parents standing next to me shook his head in disdain - and when he noticed that I was watching, hushed the words - "and she is not even good looking".
This was when the Olympics article sprung back to my mind. Do people have to work harder to make up for their ugliness? Have homosapiens evolved into shallow beings who don't see through a pretty face? Grownups may understand the concept of beauty and "image to the world", but what about kids? I am curious to know how they went about explaining to the little kid that they would be using her song, but not her face.
In this thought process, I went back and searched in my memory dump - How many times have I witnessed or heard of similar events? Have I ever been a victim of this? (Well, I never had a talent for anything, so I may not be included in this discussion :-)). My friends? Colleagues?. Slowly but steadily, I could recollect incidents that happened to people I knew. Decisions had been made with emphasis on good looks rather than merits. What do you think? Have you ever been through such judgment? Looking back, do you think your good appearance or lack of it have shaped some of the outcomes in your life? I agree that there are certain jobs that carries good looks as a necessity, but it is unfair to say that it should be applied to all categories in the spectrum.
Ugliness certainly is expensive in our times - think of all the money spent on creams, laser treatments, Botox and plastic surgery. And beauty most certainly is not skin deep. It is sad that all these treatments do not treat the underlying problem - lack of confidence and low self esteem. After all, who is not impressed by a confident person?
So stay confident my friends - if your mirror is not friendly to you, throw your confidence at it and grab it by its neck, I am sure it will definitely come around.
Last weekend, I attended a birthday party with my son. As in all birthday parties for kids, there was a person dressed up as a clown to entertain the kids. Halfway through her mediocre routine (the kids would disagree with me on that one) , she messed up a magic trick. The fumble was apparent to all the grown ups, but the kids hardly noticed. She made a good comeback and fell back on track to continue her act. It was then that one of the parents standing next to me shook his head in disdain - and when he noticed that I was watching, hushed the words - "and she is not even good looking".
This was when the Olympics article sprung back to my mind. Do people have to work harder to make up for their ugliness? Have homosapiens evolved into shallow beings who don't see through a pretty face? Grownups may understand the concept of beauty and "image to the world", but what about kids? I am curious to know how they went about explaining to the little kid that they would be using her song, but not her face.
In this thought process, I went back and searched in my memory dump - How many times have I witnessed or heard of similar events? Have I ever been a victim of this? (Well, I never had a talent for anything, so I may not be included in this discussion :-)). My friends? Colleagues?. Slowly but steadily, I could recollect incidents that happened to people I knew. Decisions had been made with emphasis on good looks rather than merits. What do you think? Have you ever been through such judgment? Looking back, do you think your good appearance or lack of it have shaped some of the outcomes in your life? I agree that there are certain jobs that carries good looks as a necessity, but it is unfair to say that it should be applied to all categories in the spectrum.
Ugliness certainly is expensive in our times - think of all the money spent on creams, laser treatments, Botox and plastic surgery. And beauty most certainly is not skin deep. It is sad that all these treatments do not treat the underlying problem - lack of confidence and low self esteem. After all, who is not impressed by a confident person?
So stay confident my friends - if your mirror is not friendly to you, throw your confidence at it and grab it by its neck, I am sure it will definitely come around.
1 comment:
ah...but I get that extra confidence by looking my best...in this world, looks matter, but then there should be a balance, it shouldn't be all about looks.
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