“Do I look okay?” “How’s my hair?” “Is this zit noticeable?”
These are all questions we constantly ask our friends and family because we are under the impression that beauty is everything. What if your entire face were to change drastically due to an unexpected incident? Would that change who you are because you don’t look the same?
A few weeks ago, on August 30, 2010, Bethany Storro, 28, was a victim of a random violent attack. An unidentified woman in Vancouver, Washington approached her and said, “Hey, pretty girl, do you want to drink this?” prior to throwing acid on her face. Imagine the devastation this woman experienced going from her beautiful self, to a deformed face.
A human face is composed of two eyes, two ears, a nose, lips, skin and hair. Why does it matter how each one is defined? There is much more to a person than just his or her exterior. So now, just because Storro no longer looks that same on the outside, is she judged differently?
Our society is so caught up with beauty and looking perfect that we forget a person isn’t solely defined by external beauty. A person has more than just physical characteristics. For example, personality, humor, kindness and trustworthiness are internal characteristics that are just as important, or maybe even more important, than what we see when a person passes us in the street.
How many times have you approached an attractive guy or girl at a party and he or she ended up having the worst personality ever? That goes to show that looks aren’t everything. We define beauty; beauty does not define us.
Fairfield student Ashley Zangara ’12 said, “To be honest, guys who are funny and have a great personality win me over more than those who are just good-looking.”
There is also a huge difference between natural beauty and artificial beauty and this all goes along with the factor of confidence. Some girls will not leave their houses without putting on makeup, while others may go to the gym, class, out to dinner and then to a party without applying a drop of makeup.
The truth is that we have no control over what we look like when we are born and our parents may hope that some of their genes kick in while others lay low. Of course, as we get older, we can use make up or have plastic surgery in order to change our outward appearances. But why not embrace our imperfections?
In actuality, our imperfections define us and give us our uniqueness. In the August 2010 issue of Elle magazine, Drew Barrymore stated, “I like that I’m someone who is anything but perfect.”
Why must we try to conceal our imperfections rather than accept them? Why can’t we realize that nobody is perfect and that although someone may look it on the outside, appearance doesn’t necessarily reflect that person’s internal self?
The lyrics to Ashley Tisdale’s song “Love Me for Me,” seem to follow the same motto saying, “Love me with all my imperfections / Not for an image of your design/Love me for what you see inside.”
So the next time your hair goes frizzy or you notice a break out right before a date, look in the mirror and say, “So what?” Nobody is perfect and just because you do not look your best today, does not mean you are a different person.
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